1/13/2025
Discovering The Smith Center
(Left to right) Associate Head Audio Engineer Greg Bober, Interim Technical Director Robert Brassard, Associate Head Carpenter Bob Stanley, Head Video Engineer R. Warren Bishop, Head Carpenter Bobby Joyce and Head Audio Engineer John Wrote (Photo by Deanna Rilling)
“You can walk out of a performance and say, ‘That was good,’ or you can walk out of the same performance saying, ‘Man, wasn't that great?’ It’s a subtle thing, but that extra step is what we're trying to achieve.”
That’s how Robert Brassard, Interim Technical Director for The Smith Center, describes the ongoing mission for the performing arts center’s renowned technical team.
Since The Smith Center opened in 2012, it has solidified a reputation as one of the top venues in the world, and a significant chunk of the credit goes to that stellar tech team, consisting of experts in sound, lighting and carpentry.
The majority of them – including leaders like Brassard, Head Audio Engineer John Wrote, Head of Boman Audio Kevin Ruschmann and Associate Head Carpenter Bob Stanley – have been on staff since The Smith Center’s very first show, an important reason the shows on its stages sound and look so good.
“The Smith Center is for locals, for Las Vegans, and to me, that’s very motivating. You feel like you're part of the community, because we're doing these shows for Las Vegas,” says Brassard, who served as Head of Lighting for The Smith Center before moving into his current role. “Also, the work always changes. It’s always the same facility, but we’re doing different shows all the time, and that keeps it exciting for us.”
Agrees Head Carpenter Bobby Joyce, “It’s very satisfying, putting on shows for the community and for students in the school district. A lot of people think of Las Vegas as a place for visitors, but we’re also a community, and The Smith Center is a perfect place for that community to gather together.”
Image: (Left to right) Associate Head of Boman Audio Darrin Capps, Head of Boman Audio Kevin Ruschmann and Associate Head of Lighting Steven Mack (Photo by Deanna Rilling)
One key part of the technical equation, of course, is keeping the tech itself up-to-date. And The Smith Center gets high marks when it comes to staying at the forefront of modern technology, Brassard says.
“The Smith Center has done a great job at keeping up with trends, as far as equipment and technology,” says Brassard, who moved to Las Vegas from Montreal, Canada, to work for Cirque du Soleil on The Beatles Love show before helping to open The Smith Center. “We’ve just upgraded our whole house lights system, and we’ve ordered new lighting consoles, and that equipment isn’t cheap. We opened in 2012, and it’s still at the cutting edge. We have Broadway shows that come in – and they go all around the country – and they’re impressed at what we can do here.”
The Smith Center’s tech team works tirelessly to ensure the shows you see in Reynolds Hall, Myron’s and Troesh Studio Theater are of the highest quality possible, and not simply because that’s their job. They work day after day, night after night because live entertainment is in their blood – a desire to provide each and every act with support befitting its own artistry and creativity.
“When I go out into the theater during a show, I’m not watching the show; I’m watching the audience’s reaction,” Joyce says. “That’s the reason we’re doing this. And seeing their reaction rejuvenates you and picks you up.”
Concludes Brassard, “We’re doing this to entertain people, and we want it to be as good as it can be. I put so much into this is because I love live shows, and to me, that’s all about the experience in the theater.”