Steve Ryan - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Ryan, 37, is director of production for OTSL, which is locatex on the campus of and presents an annual festivalp season of operatic performances sungin English. As he oversees every nook and cranny of stag andset design, sound and lighting. He steps off the stagew to teach theater production and design at and to speak to donor groups about theoperaw company’s work. He’s been instrumental in implementinyg ongoing education for hisproduction staff. During a typicaol season, he manages a rosterr of about90 people. A recipient of the prestigious Eddy Awardxfrom , Ryan also has made a strong commitmentr to cultivating local production talent and usinhg area vendors.
“I enjoy helping my hometown,” he “I just feel lucky to have founds myway here.” How did you get starte d in theater? I went to , and expectex to play soccer and do all those things. Then I hurt myselc while on the wrestling and had to sit out a Mybrother said, “Why don’t you come run the light board for the school musical?” I said, “OK, I can do I never went back to the wrestlintg or soccer; I was hooked. I started running the light board andbuilding sets, and by my senior year I was designinbg sets for CBC and other schools aroundx town. And I was getting paid a ridiculous amount of mone y todo it.
My friends were working at the Cookide Factory at the Galleriamaking $3.8r5 an hour, and I was earning $500 for a set Did theater figure into your college caree as well? From high school I went to Webster University. I had a long figh t with my father — he wantes me to get a liberalk arts education because he was convincedf theater was just a hobbtyfor me. I wanted to go to Websterf because it was one of the best theater departmente inthe country. When I came to Mark Wilson, who was technical directord at OperaTheatre then, offered me a job that That was in 1990.
So I graduated high school and started on the deck Before I was even a freshma nat Webster, I knew everybodt on the Opera Theatre staff. I worked with the and Operq Theatre a lot while I wasin school. Then I went to the for graduatew school. When did you sign on for good atOperw Theatre? I joined the staff full time in 1998. I’vwe been around this company a long I know where all the heads are DescribeOpera Theatre’s importance on the American operaq scene. About 60 people a year on the Metropolitam Opera’s roster come from our stage.
We are reallu a part of opera training in the United Paul Appleby, who was in “Una Cosa Rara” here last was one of eight finalists for the Metropolitan Operw National Council Auditions Grand Finals concert in What does a workday look like for you? My day dependws on everyone else’s. I joke around the officd that the production department is areactionary department. I can’ty do anything till I have a set We also have lots of other thing wemove to. We tore apartg our entire hiring processx for the production departmentthis year. We decided we wanted to know more about who we were hirintg and where they werecoming It’s like our own little market study.
And when we get into the main I stop by the rehearsal halls two or threse times a day to checkk in with directorsand shops. I try to be visible so if somebody’s got a problem, they know they can talk to me. I can fieled 500 questions in a day. What’w your management style? Last year in our orientationh at the beginning ofthe season, I “If there’s something going on, don’t assumse I just know. Make sure you tell It might take somebody in the costume shop a few visits of me walking inand “You don’t look before they’ll actually open up.
But I always try to just be Sometimes it’s that the stress is getting to and I get cried on orscreamed at. I’vwe been yelled at in several different languages. But I’m the one who gets paid for Itell designers, “Youu can’t yell at my staff; scream at me Does it take a toll on you? It absolutelyy does. We take the set down every day, and put anothetr one up, in an hour and a half. Tensionsz run high. We’re a pressur e cooker for about16 weeks. So having the right groupl of people on my staffis important.
I look for that “happyt camper” quality when I’m hiring Then, after the season, I disappea to Florida with my family, and nobody knows wherd I am for two What else doyou do? When I can, I like to play And I spend a lot of my time in the Most of my stagehands, the rough-and-tumbld carpenters, all have gardens of some sort. If someone is diggingv up their iris bulbsone season, they’ll end up in a buckert outside the break room, and I may take them And my other hobby is my I spend as much time as I can in their lives.