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A New Face in the Goode Center
Trey Delpo, VWU's new Operations Manager and Technical Director, left the television and film world to return to VWU
University News | November 11, 2020
.jpg "Trey Delpo, VWU's new Operations Manager and Technical Director, left the television and film world to return to VWU.")
Moving from A-Rod and JLo to VWU, sure, that sounds like a logical step.As for those ‘glamour jobs,’ Delpo admits that they were exciting but exhausting.
“I had worked in the industry part-time in grad school and during school breaks doing everything from production assistant to lighting to camera operator, then full-time after graduating, but it’s still piecemeal work – either feast or famine and usually 14-16 hours days. The longest contract I had was working for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals during the 2019 season as part of the crew for their away games. There’s much more consistency in live theatre!”
Even while doing the network jobs, Delpo volunteered to work with community theatre groups – his first love, discovered during his student days at VWU as a student of Professors of Theatre Dr. Travis Malone and Dr. Sally Shedd.
“I had such a good relationship with Travis and Sally and kept in touch during grad school. They knew my growth and what I had studied, and what I could do.” Then he grinned and added, “but it can still be a challenge to call them by their first name.”
It was Malone who encouraged Delpo to attend his alma mater, Bowling Green State University.
“It was my intent to work toward a PhD, but I had much more fun with the hands-on work and eventually my advisor encouraged me to do the master’s program so I could get out into the field.”
Prior to returning to the campus, Delpo worked for Busch Gardens where he managed their largest 3,000 seat theater. When that contract ended, he found a job in VWU’s Center for Enrollment Services and in the evenings assisted Malone and Tammy Dhority Thornes, then Operations Manager and Technical Director. When Thornes retired at the end of the spring semester, he applied for the position.
“To work at a job I’d done in grad school, working in the department where I’d fallen in love with theatre, it was everything I had hoped for. Working with students, many who have never worked in theatre before, is exciting as they get a chance to grow their passion and do something hands-on they’ve never done before and may never get to do again.”
This semester Delpo is teaching “Technical Theatre” and will do the same in the Spring semester as well as the department’s “Rehearsal and Performance” course.
In his first semester on the job, the campus has been turned on its heel with spaces adapted and classrooms modified to operate within CDC and Commonwealth of Virginia guidelines for the pandemic. The Goode Center’s Brock Theatre, with trash bags draped over seats to mark 6-foot spacing, is in continuous use from early morning to evening with a constant flow of classes using the space to achieve appropriate social-distancing. At times, classes or rehearsals are in progress simultaneously in Brock, as well as the Henry and Eleanor Watts Grand Lobby, while jazz band and choral rehearsals are often seen on the Susan Torma Beverly Plaza which wraps the front of the building.
Earlier in the semester while Beverly Hall was undergoing renovations, the Goode’s scene shop served as home to all Art Department’s Ceramics, Drawing, and Painting courses, and the Center’s dressing rooms hosted voice and instrumental lessons. Throughout this experience, Delpo and his team of student helpers have managed the space along with his own teaching responsibilities.
“Working in the Covid-world has been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. I’ve learned to improve my teaching style and techniques, and how to design in more creative ways. Thinking through all of it has been a big challenge, but a lot of fun. There’s certainly no ‘normal’ yet.”