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Sailors and Stagehands - The end of the saga

TEC Talk

Peter McKinnon will talk about his book, Sailors and Stagehands, and tell folks about the many twists and turns his research has taken, and what the end result is. At the end of this presentation, participants will have a much better understanding of our backstage heritage. Peter will sign any that want signing.

About the book: The impetus for the Sailors and Stagehands came from a friend at a CITT/ICTS Conference whose opinion was that the idea that the first stagehands were sailors was a myth. I figured that if he was correct, then a book disproving this commonly held belief would certainly be a hot item.  And if it turned out that the first stagehands actually were former sailors, then it would be a fun bit of research. Thus began a multi-year journey into known and unknown territory for me; a trek that has been both rich and fascinating. As much as anything else, the book is the narrative of my research voyage.

Sailors and Stagehands A Research Voyage is available for purchase from the University of Calgary Bookstore.

Presenter: Peter McKinnon

Peter McKinnon has had a long life in the theatre that has included many roles. He was a lighting designer and technical director for dance and opera for a decade, that included more touring than he cares to remember. He founded two theatre companies as general manager, and later became a producer in Edinburgh and New York both off- and on-Broadway. He taught theatre production at Toronto's York University for 36 years, and was on the Executive Committee of OISTAT for 16 of those years. He was in charge of "local arrangements" for the first World Stage Design in Toronto in 2005, and survived. He was one of the editors for new Theatre Words, and co-edited the two volume World Scenography with Eric Fielding. He is launching what he hopes will be his last book, Sailors and Stagehands, at WSD in Calgary.