Profile: Connor Thompson

Connor Thompson is the lead carpenter at the Emerson Stage scene shop in the Department of Performing Arts. He leads student crews and overhire labor in the building and installation of all the sets for Emerson Stage performances, teaching students the different methods of scenic construction.

He and his staff keep the scene shop stocked as much as possible, using an existing inventory on a show-by-show basis and ordering required materials as needed. Steel and lumber suppliers will often deliver their products, but sometimes Thompson needs to run to the store for more if they end up a few sheets short.

Thompson and his crew work closely with the paint crew (“no one is really a fan of scenery without paint on it,” he explained) as well as the props crew, which shares the scene shop space.

Thompson started at Emerson in Fall 2021. Before his arrival, he worked at a number of Boston-area theaters, including the North Shore Music Theatre, Lyric Stage Company, and the A.R.T. He has also taught applied technology through a project-based learning program at the Nature of Things school in New Hampshire.

Working with students is his favorite part of the job. He said, “They come in with such a fire and a drive to learn more that it really makes the job all the more worthwhile…especially when I watch them actually use the skills they’ve learned and make some amazing art.”

Thompson grew up in Ledyard, CT (which he noted is Sox and Pats territory), and studied technical/design theater and acting at Western Connecticut State University. When he’s not working in a dark theater, he is probably outside somewhere. He is an avid hiker and sailor and enjoys archery. One of his favorite hiking spots is the White Mountains. He is about a third of the way through his goal of hiking in every national park. He usually sails a 29’ Contest but hopes to get back into racing IOD boats with some of his family.

Thompson is passionate about community service and spends a lot of his free time doing volunteer work or planning events with his Freemason lodge. He also somehow manages to find time to read, cook, and homebrew! He’s been a homebrewer for about six years, making mostly mead. He’s trying his hand at ginger beer and root beer to see if he can make soda like his grandmother did. To round out his hobbies, he plays folk and classical music on the mandolin and is venturing into bluegrass.

Nancy Howell (Communications and Marketing)