Meet Sammy
Meet Sammy, our Theatre and Precinct Duty Technician.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey and role at the House?
I started at the Opera House as an intern with the Recording and Broadcast team through the CreateAbility internship program, before becoming a freelancer. This opportunity led me to working in the Theatre and Precincts team as a Duty Technician.
The job entails setting up all of the networking technologies and cable connections specifically related to shows (so pretty much working with anything that has a plug) and providing “on call” services for all technical emergencies that might occur during an event or production. This means that I'm working with a lot of different departments such as Lighting, Staging and Sound/AV, IT and the Building Team.
What’s something unique about your role or your team?
No day is the same! One call might be setting lights in the Utzon room for an intimate cello performance, navigating the Concert Hall roof and catwalk area to fix a camera, and the next could be crawling in the pits under the Opera House forecourt patching in fibre for an outdoor concert. There’s always a lot to learn as things change regularly, so there are a lot of chances to upskill in different areas. We never stop learning.
What project that you’ve worked on are you most proud of?
Over the past three years I've had the opportunity to work on Indigenous Literacy Day with Record and Broadcast. It's always our biggest streamed event where schools around Australia watch live for free and have the chance to learn/celebrate indigenous culture, languages and stories. I think it’s great that we can help student’s across Australia celebrate Australia’s First People.
Why is there nothing quite like working at the Sydney Opera House?
Apart from the House being an icon from above, looking underneath it reminds me of an ant colony. There are so many different tunnels and systems where you find yourself getting lost in the mystery of the House. The delicate symbiosis of all the different departments that keep the house running is something I'm always in awe of!