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Tegan Porter has completed her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Honours in Theatre, Stage and Technical Theatre, with a minor in creative writing. Here's what she had to say about her time at the Fountain School of Performing Arts.

What part of your studies as a technical theatre student had a steep learning curve for you?
Probably learning how to operate the lighting board. In my first year, when I saw the board for the first time, it was incredibly intimidating. There were so many buttons, faders, screens and lights; and I didn’t know what a single one them did. Now, after four years, I can sit down at a board and program lights with ease. It’s a small achievement, but I am proud of how far I have come.

DalTheatre stage productions put students in leadership positions and roles. Which one scared you the most?
I think the role that I was most intimated by was probably stage management. The stage managers play such a vital role in any production, and when I started at Dal, having such an important job seemed very intimidating. The first time I was on the stage management team was in my second year when I was one of the assistant stage managers on Peer Gynt, which was really challenging with so many technical elements. I did the paperwork to keep track of all 56 costumes, attended every rehearsal, and was backstage during the show helping everything run smoothly. Despite my prior fears, I learned that I actually really enjoyed having the responsibility that comes with being part of the stage management team.

In my third year, I was co-stage manager on the Devised production, Artificial Oddity with Veronica Jollimore. We were great at keeping track of each other and our duties. If one of us forgot something, the other would remember. We split calling the shows and it worked out quite well.

Talk a bit about working on Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play.
It's quite intimidating in the beginning when an outside director comes in, but as you grow in the program, you realize we’re all working together towards the same goal. Our director for Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Dan Bray, really treated us like professionals but also knew this was a university setting, that we would make mistakes, and that we’d grow from them.

I was head of props on that show, and it was really fun to create pieces and do things that I hadn't done before in the prop’s role, like making the prop list, sorting out budget and sourcing things.

Thunder Defayette did an amazing job as the lighting designer on that show. All these random elements look kind of strange in the prop shop, but then you get the actors together wearing them, they're all singing, standing under all the lights, and suddenly it magic; you remember why you love theatre so much.

Lorenzo Castro as Mr. Burns in Mr: Burns: A Post-Electric Play (2024) with Tegan Porter contributing as head of props
Director: Dan Bray, Set and Costume Designer: Sean Mulcahy, Lighting Designer: Thunder Defayette, Photo: Kate Hayter Photography

Do you have a favorite class or faculty, and why?
I really liked the theatre history classes with Jure Gantar and Roberta Barker, and Dawn Brandes’ puppetry and dramaturgy classes were both really fun. I didn't know anything about dramaturgy going in and now it is something I am really interested in! We each got to choose any play, go down a rabbit hole of research, then present that research to our fellow classmates. It was a great learning experience, and I really enjoyed getting to see everyone else’s work.

Tell me about your minor in creative writing?
I took a bunch of interesting courses with the creative writing department over the last few years; I learned a lot and it was a lot of fun. One of my favourites I took was the playwriting course last year with Catherine Banks, which was amazing. It was so inspiring to be taught by a renowned professional Canadian playwright. Getting to know her and having her feedback on my work was so valuable.

What's your dream job?
Well, that's a harder question. I don't know, I love so many different areas of theatre. I like the technical side of creating theatre: doing the lights, or props, or sound. Just being in that world. I also want to try to be in designer roles and help make the creative decisions.

Tegan as part of the Joseph Strug Concert Hall technical staff, photo: Kate Hayter