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labricoleuseAs we approach our own November production tech week here at PlayMakers/UNC, i want to pause and mark the untimely passing of one of Yale's MFA tech production graduates, Pierre-Andre Selim.
Mr. Selim was killed this past weekend in a load-in accident preparing for Yale Repertory's forthcoming production of Tartuffe. Because Mr. Selim was working as a student and not an employee of the company, OSHA is not investigating the accident, and according to the local news station WTNH, Selim was wearing a hardhat at the time of the accident. More details are available at the Yale Daily News.
Pierre-Andre Selim
image courtesy of Facebook.com
So often i hear people talk about theatre production as "fun" (which it certainly is) and refer to the work that we do as "play" (which it frankly is not). Though we create wonder, entertainment, and artwork, we also practice sophisticated artisanship and craft, employ tradesman's skills and put in hard labor. Danger is always present--one can fall from the lighting grid, be scalded by a toxic dye process bath, or as in the case of poor Mr. Selim, be crushed by set material shifting in a truck.
At this time when so many of us in America are approaching a holiday season of family, sharing, and gratitude, it is especially tragic to see a loss of one of our own in the theatrical production community. (Mr. Selim was from Indonesia and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Singapore before coming to the US for graduate study at Yale. Perhaps his family doesn't even celebrate winter holidays, i don't know.)
My heart goes out to Selim's loved ones in their loss, and on behalf of my own theatre family and graduate program, our thoughts are with those at Yale mourning the loss of their colleague.
Mr. Selim was killed this past weekend in a load-in accident preparing for Yale Repertory's forthcoming production of Tartuffe. Because Mr. Selim was working as a student and not an employee of the company, OSHA is not investigating the accident, and according to the local news station WTNH, Selim was wearing a hardhat at the time of the accident. More details are available at the Yale Daily News.
Pierre-Andre Selim
image courtesy of Facebook.com
So often i hear people talk about theatre production as "fun" (which it certainly is) and refer to the work that we do as "play" (which it frankly is not). Though we create wonder, entertainment, and artwork, we also practice sophisticated artisanship and craft, employ tradesman's skills and put in hard labor. Danger is always present--one can fall from the lighting grid, be scalded by a toxic dye process bath, or as in the case of poor Mr. Selim, be crushed by set material shifting in a truck.
At this time when so many of us in America are approaching a holiday season of family, sharing, and gratitude, it is especially tragic to see a loss of one of our own in the theatrical production community. (Mr. Selim was from Indonesia and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Singapore before coming to the US for graduate study at Yale. Perhaps his family doesn't even celebrate winter holidays, i don't know.)
My heart goes out to Selim's loved ones in their loss, and on behalf of my own theatre family and graduate program, our thoughts are with those at Yale mourning the loss of their colleague.
