Emerson Students Take Home Top Honors in Theatre Tech

The Emerson Greene Beans won Best Performing Team for the second year in a row at March 18’s USITT Tech Olympics. Left to right: Taylor Ness ’16, Brian Lehrer ’16, Emily Cuerdon ’17, Taylor Starr ’17, Emily Pathman ’16, Nathan Lockhart ’17, Lina Benich ’16, and Debra Acquavella, senior stage and production manager-in-residence in the Performing Arts Department. 

Emerson College students cleaned up at this year’s U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology Tech Olympics last Friday, winning best overall team and sweeping the Best Technician competition.

For the second year in a row, the Emerson “Greene Beans” took home the trophy for Best Performing Team, given to the crew that racked up the most top placements across all events. The Greene Beans competed among 122 students from colleges and universities across the country.

The Tech Olympics are held during the USITT Annual Conference, which took place March 16–19 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“We hope that other students in the Stage and Production Management and Theatre Design and Technology programs have the chance to attend this conference and expo during their Emerson careers,” said Taylor Ness ’16. “In addition to the Tech Olympics, there are countless sessions, events, and opportunities for networking with entertainment industry professionals. We are proud to, once again, call Emerson the best.”

Emerson students swept the field in the Best Technician Award, which is given to individuals who place consistently higher in the competition. Ness came in first place, Nathan Lockhart ’17 took second, and Brian Lehrer ’16 came in third in the field.

Ness, Lockhart, Lehrer, and Lina Benich ’16 worked as a team to win the Mystery Event, which this year consisted of coiling, identifying, and storing different types of cable.

Two Emerson pairs placed in Stage Management, accurately taping out a ground plan in a pre-marked area using different tapes. Benich and Taylor

Taylor Ness ’16 competes in the Lighting competition at the USITT Tech Olympics March 18. Ness won the event. 

Starr ’17 took second place, and Lehrer and Ness came in third.Ness also won the Lighting competition, during which students hung and focused lighting instruments to specific shapes and then took down the instruments.

Lockhart and Emily Cuerdon ’17 took second place in the Sound category. The teams had to set up a sound system to supply a signal to a set of speakers from two different sources.

Other Olympics competitions including Costume Change, Knot Tying, and Props.

Second- and Third-Best Performing Teams were SUNY Fredonia’s “FUSITT” and Central Washington University’s “Technicats.”