Where Producing Really Started
The class I didn’t appreciate until years later
I was a sophomore at Towson University (TU), a dance performance and education major, when I took a required course called Dance Design and Production. At the time, it felt like a filler class. Three hours every Wednesday, half in a classroom and half on stage at Stephens Hall, learning things that seemed far outside my focus on dance technique.
The professor was Paul Shapanus, TU’s Technical Director. He talked. A lot. And I remember wondering why I needed to know about lighting instruments, costumes, or why anyone cared so much about stage plots. I wanted to dance.
But he made us do more than listen. We shadowed backstage jobs where I became a dresser, sewing hems and organizing costumes for a performance. We built mock budgets for imaginary dance companies. I cold-called theaters to ask rental fees, calculated designer pay, and tracked who was responsible for what. For the first time, I saw how many moving parts go into a single show and how every choice carries a cost.
Today, I can laugh at how annoyed I was by his long explanations of what a technical director does. Now I talk to technical directors all the time.
And now Paul is gone. His obituary shares how he gave 30 years of his career to TU, and I can say firsthand how much of an impact he had on his students, especially the ones like me who didn’t realize it at the time.
He couldn’t have known that his course would shape the way I see the world of performance and, ultimately, my life as a producer. But it did. And I’m grateful.
Rest in peace, Paul