The curtains have opened on a new school year and the spotlight is centered on our new Theater Manager.

As of May 24, Bear River has welcomed Erin Beatie into the Bruin family. Mrs. Beatie explained what theater means to her, along with how she came to be a theater manager.

“Theater has always been the center of my life,” she said. “I never saw myself as a theater manager; I am a theater specialist that happens to be in charge of a really cool building.”

Erin De’Ak, a senior and theater student, explained how Mrs. Beatie enhanced her love for theater.

“I like theater because it’s like a community in itself,” De’Ak said. “You know, we’re all playing a part in making something. It’s like an art in some way.”

As a new teacher, Mrs. Beatie is still learning about the BruinNation. She talked about what she enjoys most about her experiences outside of Bear River. She said her favorite shows to work on have on have been ‘Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Dracula’, ‘Chicago,’ ‘Tahoe Shakespeare Festival,’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera.’

“I have worked over 5,000 shows so far in my career,” she said. 

“My favorite professional concert would be a tie between Cher and Sir Paul McCartney,” She added. “My favorite moments would also be a tie between running into Britney Spears after her concert (unknowingly) and insulting her intelligence, oops, and pathetically losing a flexing contest with Triple H (Paul Michael Levesque) backstage at a WWE event.”

Mrs. Beatie’s job extends far from what students would think would be on her job description.

“Obviously there are the standards being paperwork, theater upgrades, equipment repairs, and calendar bookings,” she said.

According to Mrs. Beatie, she also works as the technical director to working the stage rigging. In total, Mrs. Beatie is responsible for 25 different inner workings of Bear River’s theater program.

Mrs. Beatie, as a high schooler, performed or worked on the stage, either in Starlite during her senior year, or working the lights backstage.

“In theater you can dream up anything you want and make it come true,” she said. “Every day is different and full of new challenges! I love telling stories and there is no better platform in the world than performing arts to do this. I like to make magic for our audiences because that is truly who we are here for.” 

Scout Pettitt, a sophomore and another tech student, explained what she likes about Mrs. Beatie.

“She’s more organized and she’s teaching me more of what I want to learn then the old theater manager,” she said. “She’s teaching more than just a up in the booth and more of what the stage is.” 

Junior Bella Christmon, also a theater tech, agreed that Mrs. Beatie has been a positive force in the theater department.

“I think she’s a really nice person and she’s helping the theater and making changes to help improve the theater,” Christmon said.

Mrs. Beatie shared her opinion about the Bruins she has met so far.

“I haven’t been teaching anyone yet, but I can say that the students that I have met so far have been very welcoming and I can’t wait to start the tech program here!”