Lighting technician breaks stagehand mold

Female producer at UPH takes on male-dominated field

SARATOGA— Gabi Ramsundar has always been “a theatre kid.” When her older sister took a theatre tech class, a new passion emerged for Gabi. She’s one of the youngest stage production people working at Proctors Collaborative, and the only women in the role at Universal Preservation Hall.

“I really prefer being behind the scenes, making sure the show goes on the right way, and being a part of people’s experiences, but not necessarily being in the limelight,” Ramsundar said.

Ramsundar grew up going to the ballet and in a “very entertainment industry family.” Her sister introduced her to the world behind the stage curtain. “Once I learned what it was, that was the only thing I wanted — was to be backstage,” Ramsundar said.

She received her degree in theatre in 2020 and has been working in upstate New York since about 2019. She started as a carpenter and stagehand on a three-month contract with the Seagle Festival. Before long, her boss recommended looking into Proctors Collaborative. Ramsundar was hired into a production role, working a few jobs in the GE Theatre and the MainStage at Proctors before moving to Universal Preservation Hall, where she has been working as a theatre technician since 2022. 

UPH has a small production staff, and Ramsundar ends up wearing many hats in her role. For her, it’s “about 40% lighting, 60% collaborating with the rest of the building. Sometimes it’s being involved in the advance process and figuring out what lighting cues people might need ahead of time or the vibe that they’re trying to achieve. It’s cleaning. Sometimes it includes giving people tours and answering a lot of questions about things that may or may not actually happen.”

As the majority of the young technician’s theatrical work had been carpentry and stage management, her new role has had, “a lot of learning on the go, a lot of making mistakes during concerts where all 200 or 600 people can see it and having to stay on my feet and keep my chin up and keep going.”

“Being the oddball out is something that I kind of always dealt with in my life…”

Born in Connecticut, Ramsundar moved to Mexico to finish high school. While there, she overcame obstacles learning a new language while also trying to learn physics and chemistry. In her role as lighting technician, at age 26, it can be difficult collaborating with some incoming bands because sometimes they might not take her seriously until after she proves she can do the job. “I don’t think people are used to a person like me being the lighting designer — it is very rare for a young person of color, let alone a female to be in this position,” she said.

“I am no stranger to feeling uncomfortable or knowing that I don’t match what the picture typically looks like. I try to focus on the positive and figure out where I can meet the people that I’m working with, whatever gender they are, whatever age they are,” she added.

Ramsundar has figured out a good method to connect with whoever she is working with – laughter. “If I can make them laugh, then we can work pretty well together,” she said.

The best medicine is often laughter, and it helps build a bridge to collaboration. Ramsundar’s mentors have also aided her in building a bridge to success throughout her career.

“I spent some time working with the five guys on the MainStage at Proctors that have been stagehands for decades. And they’re so ready to teach you, to give you tips and tricks,” she said.

“I love the people that I work with. I love working with the union. I love meeting new people, and I try not to focus on any biases that I run into, and I don’t think there have been. I’ve been pretty privileged to have certain people mentor me.”

During high school, her teacher “was the first person to see the passion that I had for this industry and kind of take it seriously and give me avenues of [where I could go with it].”

Her first boss, “was another person that saw my passion and saw potential in me and really gave me the time of day, gave me a chance, pushed me in ways that I would definitely learn and feel a lot more confident after going through those things.”

“[He] was the one that was advocating for me, they really gave me more responsibility the more time that I had been there. And that was something that I think really helped me get some confidence on my feet. If you have people that believe in you, you’re a lot more apt to land on your feet, I think if people are supporting you.”

A report from The Stage in the UK highlighted that women make up only 20-25% of technical theatre professionals.

Ramsundar believes a part of the problem is the lack of visibility. It wasn’t until she was in college that she saw females represented behind the curtain. “I never saw anyone that looked like me working behind the scenes in any of the things that I watched growing up,” she said.  

“I don’t think many young women see it as a potential career. … There are so many avenues, so many ways that if you are even the slightest bit creative, you can have a productive career in this industry. It doesn’t have to be Broadway – community theatre is just as valuable and doesn’t have to be live entertainment. Sometimes it can be filmed. I think it’s just we’re not included in the job fair,” she added.

“Normally when young women are being told what potential careers they can have, theatre and stagehands and joining the union are not necessarily the things that are being pushed. But I think that comes in visibility and being somebody in the industry, being vocal about being a woman in a male dominated field and not being afraid of it. It’s being really proud of where you are and trying to be a productive example for those young women that will come after.

“If you think you can do it, at least try. Have faith in yourself. Don’t let your surroundings lessen your confidence in yourself.”