Not every career in the arts is on stage. Bentonville native Sara Sharos knows this. She is production manager for the national touring production of “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Live.” The show will stop at Walton Arts Center Sunday afternoon at 3.
Based on the Apple TV series that is itself a reboot of the Jim Henson puppet series from the 1980s, “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Live” includes puppets, music and all kinds of props. We reached Sara to ask her about the work it takes to be the production manager of such a national tour, and about her career path that began in Northwest Arkansas.
Sharos: Well, I was at the Walton Center working on the shows coming through, so I got experience learning how the schedules work, learning how the crews work. So that started my journey of understanding the tour life.
And then I had met with a stage manager and she came back through, I was folding socks in the laundry room. I did a lot of wardrobe just because at the Walton Center, they needed more people to do wardrobe than I could. So jumped in.
So I got on tour because that was like, hey, my friend needs an assistant. Can I give him a resume? And one thing led to another and I got on my first tour, which was Donna Summer. And then the pandemic hit, and then I just got a phone call to become the head of “Fiddler on the Roof.” So that was pretty incredible. And then from there, you kind of stay with the company. And they kept popping me to different tours after that.
And then my final tour led me to New York City because I work with Broadway designers that got me to work on “Once Upon a Mattress” on Broadway as head props. We also did a small tour, so I took it to LA. So it was really easy for me just because I was so used to picking up a show and taking it someplace else.
And then different jobs here in the city led me to work for the company that I worked for, and they needed a production manager and my manager suggested me and here we are.
Kellams: When something like “Fraggle Rock” goes on the road, when do you know that it’s ready to go? Do you have a checklist? Do you have a whole list of things that you’ve got to make sure are packed and ready and on the truck?
Sharos: Yes. I mean, definitely to tech, there was a journey of discovery of making sure I had everything on that list. I mean, the truck pack is a list in itself because if every spot is filled on the truck that was supposed to be there. So yeah, there’s lots of lists.
It does get simpler and you do get used to things and it kind of flows and it, I tried really hard to make sure everything had a place so that you knew where to find things. I came from props. So that’s what I came from. I was on the bigger Broadway tours. So I used a lot of those skills to make sure that we don’t forget any small things. Everything is packed up. Everything is as smooth as it can be.
I actually got some aniline poisoning once on tour. And it was awful, but it taught me where I had some holes in the way I did things to how to make things as easy as possible or transferable as well. So sometimes the bad days teach you some of the greatest lessons, ironically.
Kellams: It sounds like being a production manager, and I would assume kind of being the head of props too, is all about, or if not all about, but a lot about problem solving. Correct?
Sharos: Yes. And with this tour, we have puppets. So it adds another layer of problem solving because there’s only so many things you can do. It has to still be incredibly functional. So yeah, lots of problem solving. You’re correct.
Kellams: There’s probably some parts of this job that are very satisfying. What is something that is just really satisfying about helping something like this be put together?
Sharos: Nobody’s asked me anything like that. I mean, seeing the show at our tech with, we had a student performance at tech and hearing all the kids and seeing and having them experience that magic was really satisfying, that like, we did it to a degree. We got everything to La Crosse, Wisconsin. We got all these pieces, we got all these parts, we got all these people. So I think that was really satisfying.
Also, when a venue goes well, like, for example, Kalamazoo, we had one of our puppets that really needed some TLC and I had advanced with them that if they could get an extra person in, which they did, they got a student who was highly trained in welding. So he rewelded something for us. So the prop was exponentially better afterwards.
But that was really satisfying that they had a really incredible day. And I put all this emphasis into preparing for that. And then it all worked out. So I think that’s one of my biggest things is when I put all the prep work in, and then it pays off day by day. So yeah, Kalamazoo was very satisfying, just that it worked out really well for us.
Kellams: I guess it’s also a job where you’re always learning.
Sharos: Correct. Constantly learning. Constantly adapting. You think you know one thing and then it goes the other way. My previous tour experience has helped exponentially because I know some of the venues, I know some of the people that we’re talking to.
Actually, one of the venues in Colorado, at the end of the call with the advance, I was like, wait a minute, I know you. And it took us a second, but I actually had prop designed for his scenic design at a summer stock years ago. So that was a really beautiful moment.
Always adapting, always changing. And like I said, the puppets, I’ve worked on puppets before and built puppets myself. But because these are so specific and like iconic, like trademarked in a way that they can’t be adapted in certain ways because people are expecting to see a Fraggle. Right. So that’s been. Yeah. So you’re right. Definitely learning, definitely adapting. There’s definitely more than one way to skin a cat.
The only other thing is that our crew on the road is actually quite small. It’s only 11 people powering the show. So it’s truly incredible that these 11 people can do this every single day for days straight sleeping on a sleeper bus. It’s a lot, but it’s truly incredible how they can pull it all off every day in different places around the country, different situations.
Many theaters around the country have incredible quirks that you have to work around and I’m so very excited. We’re going to Walton Center because I know all of the quirks and there’s truly not that many. It’s actually a really great place to tour through.
And I’m so excited that I know they’re going to have an excellent, great day there. Great show because Walton Center puts on just incredible production and support shows really well.
Sara Sharos, Bentonville native, is the production manager for the national touring show “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Live.” The tour stops at Walton Arts Center Sunday afternoon at 3.
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