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Dan Hernandez
Editor’s Note
Greetings
& Salutations
If you look to the left of this column,
you’ll see a new face grinning
back at you. My name is
Jacob Coakley, and this is my first
issue as editor of Stage Directions
magazine. Welcome!
I appreciate the history and
mission of Stage Directions and am
honored to be a part of carrying it
on. This is a 19-year-old magazine
dedicated to serving the theatrical community, and to
helping everyone reading it put on better shows from all
aspects: technically, artistically and financially. Everyone
involved in theatre is doing it from a place of love and
dedication — that’s why so many of us stick around,
despite all the challenges and struggles.
You need to know that I’ve experienced these challenges
first-hand. I’ve worked in theatres across the
country, in all aspects of production — onstage, offstage
and in the business office. Currently I’m a member of
IATSE Local 720 here in Las Vegas, and I still go to gigs
wearing my stagehand blacks and Leatherman/Gerber/
multipurpose tool of choice. And while the world is better
off without me onstage, like many of you I was introduced
into the world of theatre through acting.
Acting led me to New York City and Off-Broadway.
From there, I leapt across the country to the San
Francisco Bay Area, where I worked at some of the
regional theatres before deciding to study sound. Sound
led me to different theatres, and it also opened the
doors to IATSE for me. I dove deeper into the production
side of things and returned to school again, spending
time interviewing theatre companies about how they
were integrating video into their productions. Along the
way, I kept writing about what I found, and writing the
works I thought would be interesting on stage.
I mention struggles, but the fact of the matter is, I
truly believe that live theatre is one of the most amazing
experiences in the world. I trust you do, too, and
I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure
that Stage Directions continues to create vital, compelling
content for you — so you can keep on creating
amazing work.
Let’s get started!
Jacob Coakley
Editor
Stage Directions
www.stage-directions.com • September 2007