the timboucher experience

I’d like to build something beautiful and lasting. Scenic or theatrical carpentry has been a magnificent introduction to the World of Forms, and what it takes to get something done in the simplest way possible. But I keep wondering, how on earth did anybody build anything before the invention of the cordless screw gun?

Building for the stage gets you into the mindset of conquering physical problems with the simplest, most elegant solution that fits the requirements of space, the materials available, and the specific usage of the set piece. When judging a wall you build for the stage or a staircase, you don’t think, “Will this last for a hundred years?” You worry only whether it will last for a week or a month’s worth of shows. Will it endure the immediate rigors of heavy use? Because more than likely, at the end of the production that which you spent hours laboring over will be immediately disemboweled at strike, broken down and stripped for component reusable parts, or in some cases scrapped altogether. If it’s something like a generically rectangular platform or a flat (basically a wall piece) or a nice length of two-by-four or plywood, you might be able to put it into stock and reuse it some day for some other show. Sometimes you’ll end up re-using particular pieces of wood or a well-built door frame time and time again. But more often than not, your work ends up in the scrap heap as soon as the show which required its construction is over.

Maybe this is what turning thirty means on some level: achieving the willpower, focus and concentration necessary to build something that’s not just usable for the here and now, and isn’t just re-usable for a while, but something that will be put together so well that it will outlast me in the end. And not just that, not just longevity, but that thing which is built might have such subtle and lasting beauty that it inspires and instills peace of mind in all who use it or come into contact with it.

What such a near-mythical object might be, might consist of or what its function might be, I’m as yet uncertain. Maybe I will come up with some late night invention that fills an as-yet undreamt of need. Maybe I will build a tower that reaches up into infinity… I’d like someday, I think, to build a house, a home, a place for a family which would outlast me, and whose beauty and harmony would radiate outward. But that’s not something I can build with carpentry techniques alone, though their mastery gives me a reflecting pool within which to experiment with the mastery of myself, my ability to build harmonious structures with other people and with the place, time and environment.

• Carpentry and building
• Seeking IATSE Local #19 Contacts
• Skills Inventory (Sept. 2008)
• Will Work For Free!
• Theatre Internships & Apprenticeships: Working In Tech Theatre