Meet the Team of Anything Goes! - Richard Hatfield, wearing many hats behind the scenes!

What is your role in this production? I am the Man with Many Hats on this show. I am the Master Builder, Technical Advisor and Live Sound Operator.

What brought you out for this production? Musicals are my favourite genre of live theatre. When given the opportunity, I will do anything from water boy to master builder and most stuff in between (Except paint... I hate paint!). When I was given the opportunity to build the set, I jumped at it. The Technical Advisor role is one that we created to assist in all the productions at Walterdale, and it was my turn. I became live sound of due to my big mouth... but that is all good.

What is your background in theatre? After high school, I had gone completely away from theatre, but in the early '90s, Brad Melrose introduced me to the tech department of Walterdale. I have been bitten ever since, performing most duties back stage and even acting once and doing a number of cameos.

Biggest Challenge? For me, the biggest challenge was to continue my practice that I started with The Wyrd Sisters set build. I strive to have the cast and crew able to use the stage for all rehearsals once they are in the building. This becomes a challenge as far as build speed and scheduling to ensure we have the stage in a safe state for every rehearsal. But, seeing the gratitude on the cast and crew for my team being able to pull it off makes it all worth while!

This play takes place on a ship, you have any good boating stories? Hmm... only that as a mariner, I am as green as they come... I had a small speed boat for a year, and on the first day, I sucked a rock up into the impeller. That ended my day right there. Took boat out of water and spent 3 hours getting the rock out.

Photos:
Upper - The unpainted set for Anything Goes
Lower - Richard and the The Wyrd Sisters set