Erik Alberg, who is technical director for events and conferences at Hope College, has been elected a commissioner of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.
USITT is a national professional association for theatre and live-entertainment production professionals. It features 11 commissions for groups of members who share specific interests: architecture, costume design and technology, digital media, education, engineering, lighting design and technology, management, safety and health, scene design and technology, sound design and technology, and technical production.
Alberg began a three-year term as commissioner of the Sound Design and Technology Commission in July, and chairs a leadership team of about a dozen other professionals from around the country. He is also continuing to serve as co-chair of the USITT SoundLab Project, which biannually provides large-scale, hands-on training for students and early-career members of the commission.
The Sound Design and Technology Commission serves as a resource for those interested in the use of sound as a part of dramatic, theatrical and entertainment presentations. Among other activities, the commissions create the majority of the programming for the institute’s annual conference, which provides a chance to share information, inspiration and camaraderie. “Technical work is often behind the scenes, but this is an opportunity to celebrate what we do,” Alberg said.
Alberg will also organize additional planning and programming meetings for his commission’s leadership team, which also oversees USITT-sponsored training opportunities and programming in sound and technology during the rest of the year.
“I am part of a really great team, which includes not only the others who are part of the Sound Design and Technology Commission but the institute’s professional staff and the other commissioners and their leadership,” he said. “There’s great support and collaboration, which is how we do theatre, too.”
Alberg has been involved in USITT for 20 years. He previously served the Sound Design and Technology Commission as vice commissioner for leadership for two years and as vice commissioner for programming for two years.
In his role at Hope, Alberg provides technical support for all events and conferences at the college. He is also the manager of the Knickerbocker Theatre and teaches in the Department of Dance, where he acts as the technical director, lighting designer, sound designer and photographer.
A 1990 Hope graduate, he returned to the college in 1996 as a visiting faculty member of the Department of Theatre, where he was also facility manager for the DeWitt Center main theatre and designed lighting and sound for two productions. He became assistant manager of the Knickerbocker Theatre a semester later, and in 1997 became the Knickerbocker’s manager as well as technical director for the arts and for the Department of Dance. He was appointed to his current position in the Events and Conferences Office in 2008.
Alberg has also done lighting and sound work for many organizations and productions, including the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Aerial Dance Theatre, the Eisenhower Dance Company and LehrerDance. He majored in theatre at Hope and holds an MFA in technical theatre production from the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program.
Founded in 1960, USITT connects performing arts design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialog among practitioners, educators and students. The institute includes members at all levels of their careers and is the leader in life-long learning opportunities for the entertainment design and technology industry. USITT’s next annual conference will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2019.