However, it was the second lockdown in December 2020 that was most difficult, “It’s always harder to jump out of a moving plane the second time than the first,” Mark says. For Mark, the initial work stoppage was about four months long, and in July 2020 he was able to pick up a few gigs for live stream events. Lisa turned to gardening and Mark went on long walks to cope. The transition from their busy working lives to the reality of lockdown at home was hard. Mark notes that “working successfully in an industry and then being told to stop,” was incredibly difficult. The pandemic had other plans and, “the doors closed. Mark was going to be working at the Stratford Festival and Lisa was scheduled for the Shaw Festival. At the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020, “we were coming up on spring and summer when things really start to cook,” Lisa shares. Mark works predominantly as a lighting, audio, and video operator. On the technical side of things, Lisa mostly does wardrobe, sometimes she’s a dresser and occasionally she’ll load a show in or out. “Both of us were built to be boots on the ground, we’re workers,” Lisa shares. While both Mark and Lisa have worked in managerial roles, they enjoy the hands-on nature of practical work best. Since then their work takes them all over the region. The couple decided Hamilton was the best middle ground between theatre gigs across southern Ontario and moved to the city in 2006. “He was the production manager,” Lisa says, “ took about a year and a half, we got married and it’s been twenty years!” They hosted their wedding in the theatre between one show being loaded out and the next show being loaded in. Mark and Lisa met each other in the nineties at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto while on the job.
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