ABSTRACT
The production field is much wider than just theatre, especially when it comes to lighting, sound, and video. There are many other uses for the same skills, in what is often generically referred to as the entertainment business. Someone has to install and maintain that equipment, which means more jobs for theatre production. Generally speaking there are three different types of legitimate theatre work environments: schools, not-for-profit/regional theatres, and commercial. Commercial theatre is just that, a theatre engaged in commerce, or money making. One very important job in a regional theatre, that doesn't exist in commercial theatre, is the Technical Director (TD). The job of TD generally requires the oversight of the shop where the scenery is built, but can include many other tasks such as scheduling and budgeting. In some theatre companies, the scheduling and budgeting are handled instead by a Production Stage Manager who is responsible for all the shows in a season rather than just one.
