Artist Profile: Josh R. Hillers ’24 on Communication and Connection Through Tech Theater

Josh R. Hillers ’24 has been involved in theater since his high school years. While he enjoyed those experiences, it wasn’t until he became involved in theater at Harvard, particularly the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, that he learned exactly what direction he wanted to pursue: tech.

“I kind of came in knowing that I wanted to do some amount of tech theater, but not necessarily what exactly,” Hillers said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson. “From the people I met in the Pudding sophomore year, I was able to join other productions by next fall.”

Hillers currently serves as president of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, but he has been widely involved in many productions inside and outside of “the Pudding.” Most notably earlier this fall, Hillers worked as technical and executive producer for “Heathers: The Musical,” a Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club production. To ensure the full creative vision for “Heathers” could come to life, Hillers said the most important thing was “talking and asking questions.”

“It's really about asking the writer, the director, what exactly do you want this to look like? How can we best achieve that, and then directly translate it,” Hillers said. “It’s really about connecting people.”

And Hillers upholds his goal: He acts as the home base for all the inner workings of many theatrical productions. He correlates messages and meetings between the tech department and the performance department, and he makes sure the show is cohesive overall, ensuring that “both voices get an equal part.”

Hillers found his former role as tech vice president of Hasty Pudding Theatricals an important step towards his current trajectory.

“In that role, I was tasked with overseeing the entire technical execution of the show, which is a very unique problem — but also very rewarding.”

Not only did Hillers learn more about logistics, he also gained context about leadership in tech theater.

“Fully grasping the scale and scope of it is something that's super revolutionary when it comes to theater,” he said.

From “Heathers” to the Hasty Pudding’s productions and several other projects, Hillers has had time to reflect on his tech philosophy. Ultimately, he always wants his production environment to be “safe and welcome” so that everyone can appreciate the process.

“For me, it’s really about just ensuring that my designers and the people who are involved are actually enjoying the experience and also able to teach the people that they’re working with,” he said.

Hillers also reinforced the importance of mental health and stressed that all artists should put their “own well-being” first in theatrical productions.

“It’s really unfortunate that a lot of the tendencies inside of technical theater is to drive oneself into the ground to make it look super fantastic. And that’s something I’ve tried to prioritize for both myself and my workplace,” Hillers said. “It's really about supporting the people who are engaging in the artform.”

Hillers builds this environment through “setting expectations.” By laying out exactly what is expected from each member, he hopes to foster a healthy work environment and a sustainable balance between all the stressors Harvard students juggle.

“If you don't expect to spend so much time, then when someone asks you to put extra time in, that feels much, much worse, and can actually be degrading at certain times, when you really just need to feel like you need to get it done,” he said.

Through production after production, Hillers has also learned to not expect perfection but that “there will be issues, and that'll be okay.”

However, Hillers knows that collaboration isn’t just something that takes place in a show, but a truly successful process requires generational sharing. More specifically, every production has “building blocks” from past productions. Each show is a symphony of experiences and items from the past.

“Any HRDC show, when you see it, there’ll be something on stage that was ‘in stock,’ which is used from a past show, that was made for a different purpose,” he said. “It’s kind of like a repurposing.”

This sharing is not only concrete but also manifests as shared knowledge. Moving into authoritative roles in theater, Hillers said his motto has been “taking what I already know” and “seeing how to improve.” This system multiplies the collective nature Hillers works to develop.

“It's kind of fun being able to both create new knowledge based off of what we already know and have, but also try to pass that on to the next generation,” he said.

Hillers constantly pushes towards making tech a safer environment, and he also balances that with pushing boundaries. When he is in a leadership position for a show, the production often displays truly groundbreaking demonstrations of tech prowess, and to make these spectacular feats go from brainstorm to stage he says the recipe is to “innovate and do lots of test trials and runs.” However, Hillers again credits these feats as products of collaboration.

“There are definitely so many people on this campus that know way more about actual execution of technical theater than me. And that’s something I feel very grateful for, and why I’m so very grateful for the teams I’m involved with and to the people that are there, because they know way more than me and can advise on what’s best,” he said. “And that’s really great.”

Despite his own hard work and dedication, Hillers credits his success largely to the community around him, and says he is ultimately the most influenced by the people he works with.

“Being a part of the production together, that really motivates me,” he said. “And it illustrates to me that it’s important to ensure that they are having a great time.”

The positive environment that creates this motivation is a testament to Hillers’s dedication to cooperation, where everyone can learn from one another and grow together. Hillers leaves with one last message for readers:

“Come see HPT 175: ‘Heist Heist Baby!’ We perform all of February!”