Assistant Technical Director
​Production Department

Hailing from Central Pennsylvania, Ethan worked as the Technical Director for the Altoona campus of Penn State before moving to Cincinnati in the chaotic summer of 2020. His work as a ticketing associate at the Aranoff Center of the Arts led to the opportunity to join the Playhouse staff in the 2023 season as the Assistant Technical Director. He has an eclectic collection of theater experiences across the fields of stage management, theatrical design, and scenic construction. Ethan is thrilled to continue to bring productions to both Playhouse stages and beyond.
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When not creating 3D Computer Models of sets at work, you can catch Ethan reading fantasy novels, playing D&D with friends, or working on some new crafting projects with his housemates and their two cats.

What does a Technical Director actually Do?

In Theatre, it is a technical director's job to take the information from the designers and facilitate it through the build process all the way to opening night.

At Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the process for each show of the 8 show season tend to look fairly similar:
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• We start by taking the designs and building the sets in 3D in the computer with AutoCAD to troubleshoot spacing, shipping breaks, and materials.
• Next the 3D Drawings get picked apart to construct "Build Drawings" which are printed on 2'x3' plates(pages) go to the shop for construction.
• After construction, the sets move into our paint shop where they are finished to Show quality.
• The sets are then shipped down the road and loaded into our Theatres just in time for the Designers to join us in person for "Tech" 
• "Tech" often involves troubleshooting specific items, and making adjustments with active collaboration from the designers in the room.
• As our Notes wind down, the audience arrives for previews, and we hand the show over to the show team and get back to the computer for the next set of AutoCAD models.

Although this process is fairly straight forward for one show, the multi-show nature of the season means that there may be a show in each stage of production all at the same time. This fun seasonal rhythm keeps things interesting and fresh as each week goes by.

"Stew" 3D AutoCAD Design Model by EJ Ruhl

"Stew" Shop Construction Build Drawing Sample by EJ Ruhl

"Stew" Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park 2023-24 Season. Production Photo by Mikki Schaffner