OHIO students help bring the Lancaster Festival to the stage

Each summer School of Dance Technical Director and Lighting Designer John Bohuslawsky (affectionately known as John B. to students) leads a production crew made up of OHIO students and alumni in the set up, production support, and tear down of the three-week Lancaster Festival. The festival is a much-loved, multidisciplinary event that presents arts, cultural, and social activities throughout the Lancaster region over a three-week period.

Of the various venues at partner sites, the largest is located at the Wendel Concert Stage at OHIO’S Lancaster campus. Erica Lewis, BFA ’24 Dance, explains that the hands on work the production crew experiences encompasses all aspects of live production. 

“We build the canopy, the stage and the outdoor stuff… so we have a heavy first week, just building everything," Lewis explained. "Then we work with the orchestra mainly… and when the roadies come, we'll help unload the trucks and then load the trucks back up. We do everything in reverse.”

Abby Bowman, BFA ’23, MA ’24, and Nicole Peterson, BFA’23, MA ’24, both are in their fourth year on the Lancaster Festival crew, having joined as Dance undergrads and continued into their graduate studies in Arts Administration. 

“We double-dipped this year with an Arts Administration internship with Deb Connell, the Executive Director [of the festival],” explains Bowman. “So we've been working in the office pretty much since May.”

Both students have found value in pushing themselves to learn the technical aspects of producing a show. 

“I never really saw the behind the scenes, backstage kind of production work until I came to college,” says Peterson. "But really, day one that I took John B's class freshman year was it for me. I was like, ‘I love this work.’ Just seeing both sides of it, and because of our major, the BFA track, we were able to perform, but also do a lot of backstage work with John B. So, there were some shows that we're dancing on stage, and the next piece we're stage managing… and then ultimately coming here and doing more production work has been a lot of fun.”

Bowman agrees wholeheartedly. 

“I was a little nervous... but John B. really lays out the base for you so well when you're a freshman. It goes well with your dancing too, because being on the stage you're more aware of the production side… the stage managing part in the production is its own choreography, it’s so cool. I love the festival, it’s so fun working here," she added.

Lewis also highlights the added benefit of seeing guest artists in another light from the crew side of things. 

“The respect is crazy! You get to see a performer before they're putting on their show and you kind of get to see how they act. And so, it's interesting to see if they respect their crew and respect us backstage people or if they don't and that's very interesting and insightful for me, too.”

The experience hasn’t scared Lewis off, in fact, she’s interested in considering production as a viable day job while continuing her dance aspirations.

“I’m applying for a production job after this. There are a couple different companies… AEG is the company that I would like to get with, they work with KEMBA Live! and a couple other bigger ones. So, it's like what I've been doing for the past three years with Lancaster is following me right into the career field," Lewis said. 

This year’s added administrative internship for Bowman and Peterson also has pushed them to explore the details of arts administration from the perspective of the director of the festival, with Bowman’s capstone project focusing on a crisis management plan for the festival and Peterson crafting a production handbook to assist in consistent best practices.

“That kind of administration leadership side that John B. lets us take on, I feel made me want to do arts administration,” explains Bowman. “That leadership role, the little tidbits that John B. teaches us, makes you want to be an arts administrator.”

Peterson also feels strongly that Bohuslawsky’s mentorship helped give her the confidence to take on the challenges of production work. 

“More starting our junior year John B. kind of loosened the reins a little bit and let us take over some shows, which like she said has been beneficial to go into arts administration already having somewhat of a background in leadership and organizational skills that maybe we wouldn't have gotten if we really didn't dive into the production work in undergrad before moving into grad school.”

The Lancaster Festival will open its 40th season Thursday, July 18th. For more information visit lancaterfestival.org.