Daily Inspiration: Meet Josh Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Smith

Hi Josh, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I used to say I’ve spent most of my career learning what I *don’t* want to do. In the last 10 years I’ve worked on more than 300 productions, so I like to think I’ve figured a few things out at this point. My love of learning has resulted in inadvertently picking up quite a few skills and hobbies along the way. I’ve had a lot of success in my career and lot of that has been through determination and hard work, but admittedly, some was just good timing and luck. I have to give a lot of credit to the education I got from the Bowling Green State University theatre department. There’s a generation of graduates that came out of that program, hungry, passionate and scrappy and I think that really drove a large part of my early career. The elevator pitch summary is: I spent 5 years teaching high school and middle school in Rhode Island before needing a change and starting work at a commercial scene shop. While I was there, I built a handful of Broadway musicals, did some work for ESPN and took part in some award winning museum exhibits. My interests are pretty broad, so during this period I also mixed a bunch of musicals, did some recording and prop work and ultimately ended up landing a job as the Assistant Tech Director and Head of Sound for the Valentine Theatre in Toledo where I started an award winning video series during our covid shutdown. Now I’ve been in Cleveland for a couple of years, worked for Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland Public Theatre, and Talespinner Children’s Theatre and I’m finally starting to feel grounded. Recently I’ve started work with Case Western Reserve University as a Theatre Safety Specialist which means I’m getting to create a safety program from the ground up, but it also means I have the time for some new projects which has helped me rediscover my love of design.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been a bunch of ups and downs along the way. I’ve been lucky enough to have a partner along for the ride the whole way which has helped regulate the highs and lows. *But* having a spouse in the theatre industry, running similarly weird schedules and adding a child into the mix hasn’t been easy, we’ve often been ships passing in the night as production weeks keep us busy, but we’ve always made it work. We certainly didn’t get into theatre and education for the money, but we’ve definitely had some financially tight periods, you can’t be in the theatre industry and not talk about the impact covid had on people’s livelihoods. Our world shutdown for a couple years and the devastating impact is still being felt. Audiences haven’t come back to pre covid times and the industry is still going through a lot of change. We’re both far enough along in our careers that we feel pretty confident about what we do, but the world is still on a bit of a rocky footing. Cleveland theatre is adapting and learning what the new normal is, but it is an ongoing process that still leads to a lot of daily uncertainty. I’ve got to be honest that my recent change in jobs was a result of looking for a more regular schedule, workload and a little more long term security. I’ve been working in the industry without a break since I left college but for the first time I’m actually making some progress saving for retirement and making time for family and myself. It’s something I think every theatre professional wrestles with at some point.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I like to think I’m known for my versatility and my good attitude (I love the puzzle of finding solutions to creative problems) . I’m always up for a challenge and as a multi discipline designer, I’m pretty well traveled. Lighting, video, audio, scenic, and props, I’ve got you. I can give you some recommendations for people to do costumes… and none of them are me. I’m excited that my newest project is going to be the lighting design for Case Western’s production of The Mousetrap, which means I get to work with one of the best fabricators and shop managers in Cleveland (Nathan Kunst) and I’ll be collaborating with a team that is mostly new to me.

One recent project I’m real proud of was “Funny Like an Abortion” at Cleveland Public Theatre. I think it was a vital piece of theatre in our current era of abortion bans and assaults on women and basic human rights. Rachel Bublitz gave us a great script, Paige Conway directed a great show, Laura Carlson Tarantowski gave me a fantastic set to build, I turned a couch into a puppet, a trampoline into a table and I think all the designers came together to turn it into a really beautiful show. I was really proud to help bring their vision to the stage.

I think that one of the things that sets me apart in Cleveland is my vast professional experience and my broad skillset. I’ve made a *lot* of weird art over the years, worked with national touring acts, done a stint in corporate touring, I understand the regional theatre world and I’m always looking for new perspectives, and new ways of learning. I thrive on collaboration and I think as an industry we’re stronger together. There’s a ton of great work happening in Cleveland and I hope I can deepen some of the connections I have and make some new ones in the years to come.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Determination and a love of solving problems, I have a hard time saying no (which is a me problem for sure). I’ve found that some of my favorite projects are ideas that come out of a “hey, what if we could do this?” moment. I try to ground my expectations in reality so sometimes the immediate answer is “no”. But then an hour later I’ll be back with a… “so, I know you were joking… but I thought about it and I think we can do it.”

I try to live in reality, but I *really* want to indulge the creative world of “what if”. It’s part of that theatre magic that got me into this mess to begin with. Sometimes the final answer will still be no, because time and skills truly won’t allow it, but taking creative preconceptions and throwing them out the window means you can talk problems out with a group, get some other perspectives and *hopefully* come out on the other side with something people haven’t seen before. Complacency and comfort are the death of theatre. When we’re doing something simply because it’s always been done that way… that creative spark goes out. We need to reinvent, stay alive and try new things, and we’re going to fail. Sometimes we might fail a lot. We learn from those failures and we adapt and evolve.

I used to tell students who were interested in theatre to go to school for anything else that could make them money and that they enjoy. You always have the option of community theatre, tours and cruise ships, or you could come to theatre later in life… there are a LOT of inroads. You don’t *need* training (though the connections can give you a leg up), you can always take it from a hobby, to a serious endeavor but then you have a backup if it doesn’t work out. I said all of that with a big caveat though. The rest of my advice was that if you didn’t think you’d be happy doing anything else (like me), jump in with both feet. Dedicate yourself, take it seriously, do the hustle and know it won’t always be fun or easy. I’ve had a few students who followed that path very successfully, and I have an even larger number students who are happy… in other fields, and that’s ok. It’s not for everybody and it can be a love/hate relationship but it can also be very rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jasmithtech.com
• Instagram: jasmithtech
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasmith.tech
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheWoodenForge