Idled Broadway Electrician Talks Shop

"During a performance, I am either on stage, in standby getting ready to do a cue, or I am downstairs repairing a moving light."

It's a full, often busy time, a day that doesn't usually end until 10:40 p.m.; his weekends and most of his evenings are taken up with work.

Stagehands John Joseph Kelly, foreground left, and Sean Fedigan, foreground right, chat as they picket Saturday Nov. 24, 2007 outside the Neil Simon Theatre in New York where Kelly is a stagehand for "Hairspray". Fedigan is a stagehand for "Jersey Boys" at the August Wilson Theatre across the street. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg) (Tina Fineberg - AP)

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Kelly refers to himself as "a Broadway cowboy." He often assists on the load-ins of other shows, specifically moving in and setting up lighting and sound equipment in a theater.

He didn't plan to be a stagehand; music was his goal. Originally from Stratford, N.J., Kelly moved to Santa Barbara, Calif., when he was 23. He played in bands, including one that worked for a small theater company that was then called the Ensemble Theatre Project. He worked there as a musical director, sound designer, production designer and technical director.

Union work followed at other Santa Barbara theaters and finally an offer came from a friend to join the Rigby "Peter Pan," which was then on tour.

Kelly found he liked going out on the road with shows, working as an electrician and a followspot operator. Some, such as revival of "Man of La Mancha," starring Raul Julia and Sheena Easton, ended up coming into New York.

These days, Kelly is based in New York and lives with his girlfriend in Manhattan. Unlike many stagehands, he didn't grow up in a family of stagehands, although his sister is also a union member. They are in the same international, although she is in the movie business.

"No two shows are alike," Kelly said. "One of the best things about this job is also one of the worst: All shows close.

"If you are working on one you don't particularly like or have a job you don't particularly care for, you can know that, at some point, it will end. But that's also a bad thing because if you are on a show you particularly like with a crew you particularly like and a cast you enjoy, it becomes a family, a group of individuals all working together, a collaborative effort."

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