Chance Bender: the man behind the curtain lights up the show
Chance works the light board in the theater.
April 29, 2014
Senior Chance Bender is the man behind the curtain in the drama department. Currently Bender is doing an independent study in technical theater with Mr. Julian Lazarus. Bender has done everything from stripping and repairing the wires of over 140 lighting fixtures to channeling and programming the stage lights.
“ I’ve progressively learned through after school tech with Mr. Lazarus.”
This work takes someone who has a basic understanding of, and is interested in, electronics.
“Drafting was the hardest part because I had never done that before. Mr. Lazarus had to teach me this from the ground up; whereas the other stuff came more naturally,” said Bender.
Chance is also taking AP Psychology, AP Composition, and Algebra 3. After high school, Bender plans to attend Frederick Community College and then attend UMBC to earn a degree in technical theater.
With help from Lazarus, Bender was able to meet with Christian Bell, the technical theater director at UMBC.
Lazarus has a passion for the technical aspect of production. “I went to college to get a directing degree, but I also took classes in technical theater, and I was only a few credits short of graduating with a double major in directing and technical theater.”
“Teaching Chance has been wonderful and lots of fun. Lighting is the hardest part of technical theater and Chance has done really well with it,” he said.
Working with the lights means he was repairing, replacing, plotting, stripping, channeling, and programming them.
Mr. Lazarus believes that technical theater could be a potential class at Linganore, but not any time soon.
Lazarus said, “If Chance decided to stick with technical theater, then I think that he would go on to do great things.”
Senior Kirsten Klimas, who is a participant in the school plays said, “ When everyone was rehearsing for the plays, we would always see Chance working on something. Sometimes he was up in the rafters, and some times he was on stage with us… without him, the play wouldn’t have been good at all. He makes sure the lights make the actors look their best.”
