With bittersweet endings come new beginnings. The well loved Michael Frank, “grandfather” of the theater department, made the decision to retire as theater technician at the high school. Mark Carr will take over the position Frank has spent 25 years mastering. Frank is loved by many and known for his caring personality, and he will be missed. Despite Carr having big shoes to fill, Frank is confident Carr will be an exceptional replacement.
“Jon is going to do a great job, he’s passionate about theater, he’s quick to learn things, and always wants to learn something new,” Frank said. “He’s got a theater personality at heart, that means it’s all about the show, it’s not about him.”
Carr started doing theater tech at his high school. They didn’t have anyone like Frank, and so the students did all of the tech for school productions. During high school, he worked as an audio technician for St. Cecilia Music Center, a theater venue in downtown Grand Rapids. He worked his way up the ranks, and he heard about the auditorium tech job at one of the school plays he was working.
“I had never heard of this kind of job because at the high school I went to there wasn’t [that job]. The theater was not this nice and the program behind it did not have any funding,” Carr said. “So I just didn’t really think about school auditoriums having someone to take care of them. So then it all just kind of lined up . . . I wouldn’t say this was my dream job but it worked out really well and I enjoyed the job quite a bit.”
Frank has been training Carr for the past couple of months, showing him the ropes of the theater the Northview way.
“He [Frank] is very knowledgeable and has been doing this for such a long time,” Carr said. “It’s hard sometimes because he knows so much and you have to ask a lot of questions but he’s very knowledgeable, he’s very helpful and I have to get him to step away sometimes so I can actually learn.”
Carr isn’t the only one who’s continuing to learn and grow, Assistant Stage Manager and Theatre Technician Assistant Lena Specter is adjusting to working with a different theater tech. Specter is in charge of managing part of the backstage and making sure performances happen in an orderly fashion, along with a multitude of other tasks. She has done it since her freshman year and became assistant stage manager her junior year.
“I’ve worked with Mr. Carr a little bit now and it’s clear he’s learning with us in a matter of how the techies that work with Mr. Frank function,” Specter said. “But also in a way like we are all growing together and it’s going to be really cool learning how to work with Mr. Carr even though I only have 1 year left. But I am looking forward to it because there is room for growth in everyone’s department.”
When Carr isn’t running shows, he’ll work on the maintenance of the theater, book rentals, paperwork and sometimes paint sets.
“I get to do stuff that I enjoy doing,” Carr said. “I like the stress of trying to make a show work, helping other people and you get a lot of satisfaction from working with high schoolers. There’s a lot of good people and you can help teach people, help people figure out what they want to do.”
We’ll miss Frank and he has been an essential part of making the theater run smoothly. Frank is leaving behind a 25 year legacy and he can’t be replaced, but Carr is fast becoming a member of the Northview family and beginning to carve his own path and legacy as the new leader of “The Max” Performing Arts Center at NHS.
