ABSTRACT
The assistant has many responsibilities throughout a production period. These responsibilities may vary considerably depending on the preferences of the designer and on where the assistant is working—Broadway in an educational setting, for example. In contrast, if artistic decisions are discussed with the assistant in the absence of the designer and/or the associate, the assistant should listen intently and pleasantly, write down the questions (without agreeing or disagreeing to anything), and report them accurately to the designer for direction. If the assistant races up onstage, the designer may feel abandoned at an inopportune time or worry that the assistant will focus the fixture incorrectly. As the designer–assistant relationship grows stronger, the designer may allow the assistant a little more rein, but even then, tell the designer our intentions before doing something that affects the show. On the contrary, assistants are incredibly good designers in their own right—partially because they spend countless hours studying craft of our modern masters at work.
