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Theatre Con 2026

Part 2 — Advanced Designs in Corporate Theatre Arts
Center Stage Is Drafted by the Engineers Back of House

Theatre Con Workshop Proposal 2026
Workshop Length: 45 Minutes
Professional Development Level: Intermediate–Advanced
Audience: Theatre Directors, Technical Theatre Educators, CTE Educators, Fine Arts Educators, Technical Directors, and Advanced Theatre Students

Workshop Description
What happens onstage is only possible because of what has been designed, engineered, programmed, coordinated, and tested behind the scenes.

Advanced Designs in Corporate Theatre Arts examines the intersection of traditional technical theatre, corporate event production, touring entertainment, broadcast technology, and systems engineering.

Participants will explore how professional productions integrate audio, lighting, video, LED walls, staging, rigging and fly systems, scenic elements, props, costumes, power distribution, networking, communications, and merchandising into one coordinated production environment.

The workshop moves beyond individual technical disciplines to examine the larger question:

How do multiple production departments become one functioning show system?

Educators will leave with terminology, production concepts, workflow models, and career-pathway information that can be incorporated into technical-theatre instruction and used to better prepare students for collegiate, freelance, touring, theatrical, and corporate production careers.

Professional Learning Objectives

By the conclusion of this 45-minute professional development session, participants will be able to:

1. Differentiate theatrical and corporate production environments.
   
   • Compare traditional theatrical production practices with corporate general sessions, concerts, conventions, broadcasts, touring productions, and large-scale live events.
2. Analyze house-integrated technical systems.
   • Identify the major components of permanently installed venue systems, including house audio, lighting, video, networking, communications, rigging, power distribution, patching, infrastructure, and control systems.
3. Explain theatrical fly and rigging systems.
   • Identify the purpose of battens, line sets, counterweight systems, motorized systems, points, truss, hoists, load considerations, and the relationship between rigging and production design.
4. Map professional production signal flow.
   • Trace how audio, video, lighting, control, communications, and data move from source to destination throughout a modern production environment.
5. Evaluate touring production requirements.
   • Examine the technical information required when a touring production enters an unfamiliar venue, including technical riders, drawings, room specifications, power requirements, rigging information, labor calls, loading logistics, equipment specifications, schedules, and safety considerations.
6. Interpret professional production documentation.
   
   • Introduce students and educators to documents such as:
     • Technical riders
     • Stage plots
     • Input/output lists
     • Patch sheets
     • Equipment manifests
     • Lighting plots
     • Rigging plots
     • CAD drawings
     • Production schedules
     • Labor calls
     • Run of show documents
7. Recognize interdepartmental dependencies.
   • Analyze how Audio, Lighting, Video, LED, Staging, Rigging, Scenic, Props, Costumes, IT, Production Management, and other departments affect one another.
8. Identify professional career pathways.
   • Map progression from entry-level production positions through technician, operator, engineer, department lead, designer, technical director, production manager, and senior/master-level engineering positions.
9. Translate professional practices into classroom instruction.
   • Identify at least one professional production workflow, document, or systems concept that can be incorporated into a technical-theatre curriculum.