Alan Symonds

Alan Symonds was the Technical Director of the Harvard College Theaters for many years. He entered Harvard College in the 1960s, started participating in technical theater during his freshman orientation period, and soon found himself spending much more time on technical theater than on his studies. He participated in work on the student level, but also started working with professional companies, particularly the Boston Ballet, for whom he designed low cost portable smoke generators, and the American Repertory Theater. In the course of his career, Symonds was a part of the lighting crew at Woodstock. He often told the students he worked with about pouring ice cubes into the spotlights there just to keep them from overheating. He is...