Nutcracker tech director crafted original chandelier, beds

Eric Wynne / Herald Photo M.J. MacLeod touches up one of the props for The Nutcracker, at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium until Dec. 17. MacLeod, who has been involved with The Nutcracker since its inception, calls the show from the wings.

By Andrea Nemetz / Entertainment Reporter

M.J. MacLeod was going to be a doctor or sing and dance on Broadway.

"Well I can't sing or dance, so Broadway didn't work out and I went to Dalhousie intending to be a doctor," laughed the Dartmouth High grad who is stage manager and stage carpenter at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.

"I walked by a table for the theatre and I thought I'd do it for a year. I was tired of maths and sciences.

"I spent the first year as an actor and was in one of the main stage shows and very quickly found I'd rather be backstage.

"I finished the degree, then I did a B.Sc., then I beetled around Europe and came back and spent the summer working at the theatre in Annapolis Royal and 20 years later I'm still doing it.

"I like active things. I like using my hands. I do electrical work, carpentry and plumbing and find creative ways to make things.

"Being down here the knowledge pool is fairly small. You don't know all the latest technological wonders, but you really learn to make things work."

For the last 10 years, MacLeod has been helping bring The Nutcracker to life as the show's technical director, virtually living at the Cohn for two weeks.

"I get it moved in - we do five loads in a one-ton truck to get it here-then I begin repairing it, touching things up, rebuilding and overseeing a crew of six. When the show starts I call it from the right side of the stage."

Though the first year is a blur, it remains her favourite season

"Myself and Brian Dawe (who does lighting for The Nutcracker) figured out the tech things, like building the triangular rolling columns (each side has a different scene) and made the larger stuff like beds, sleighs and the chandelier. Mermaid built the puppets and the masks.

"We spent weeks down in Brian's basement and my basement making things, then moved it here and tried to put it together. It was mass chaos in a fun kind of way. We weren't sure if we would make it on time. There was incredible spirit because everyone was working really hard.

"And when we finished on opening night, the kids went nuts. They were cheering, tears were running down their face."

There hasn't been much change in the show physically over the years, a new tree was added and a new lighting look created.

"What changes every year is the dancers," MacLeod says, while being pulled away to watch the hydraulically-activated tree rise for the first time this season.

"There's a different cast every year and so there's a different feel to the production.

"The kids are so wonderful to watch. Sometimes it's more fun to watch backstage because of the antics of the kids."

MacLeod also spent three years as stage manager at Mermaid Theatre in Windsor, worked at Halifax Dance and with Symphony Nova Scotia and was crew chief at Neptune for nine seasons, beginning in 1989, where Les Miz was one of her favourite projects.

"Les Miz was an incredible production to pull off as crew chief, with the scene changes and the bridge coming in. I was running the revolving stage.

"I couldn't do that version again, it was too hard physically. But it was a great production with a strong ensemble and we were really lucky to have Frank MacKay."

MacLeod also teaches stage management in the Dalhousie Theatre Department and has been set co-ordinator for the Nova Scotia International Tattoo for three years, taking over after Phil Sorge died.

"Phil was an incredible technician. He was an artist and a wonderful gentle soul," she says "He was always supportive and wonderful to work with because of the artist part. Sometimes we get too focused on getting the job done technically and we lose the heart. He brought the heart back in."

MacLeod also works at Metro Centre concerts and has enjoyed working with musical productions Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar at St. Matthew's United Church on Barrington St.

"It was great to watch those shows grow," she muses. "It was really fun to watch people who don't do it for a living. They can't do enough."

Juba'lee, last January at the Metro Centre, for which she was technical director, was another highlight.

"We got the Metro Centre at midnight Friday when the hockey game was over. Then they had to get the ice deck in, the stage and then we had to do rehearsals. I was up for 45 hours straight. It was really fun to do. It would have been more polished if we had more rehearsal time, but it was a really neat show and the energy and talent were incredible."