During the summer of 2025, I had the opportunity to intern at All Access Staging and Productions in both the Fabrication and CAD departments. Throughout the internship, I had amazing times with amazing people, and I learned so much.
I spent the first half of the summer in the shop under Kate Newman and Lowell Chapman, rotating between departments based on each day’s workload. The two departments I spent the most time in were machining, where I operated mills, drill presses, and the CNC machine, and welding, where I helped jig and tack the parts.
My other experiences in the shop included cutting pipes, angles, and flatbar, operating the waterjet, operating the wood CNC machine, building custom wood plug decks and steppers, using the Piranha machine to make x-braces, and my favorite, helping special projects make the stairs for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Halftime Show.
It was especially interesting to see how a job moves through departments in the shop, especially having come from a theatre shop where there aren’t specific people in specific departments. Additionally, I loved improving on my technical skills and learning how to use new machines, such as the Piranha and the waterjet.
During the second half of the summer, I worked in the CAD department under Matt Carter. There were three main categories that my assignments fell into: rental jobs, custom jobs, and updating stock parts.
The rental jobs consisted of putting together designs and packets using stock gear, and gave me base experience in Vectorworks and how to configure packets for on-site use. These types of jobs allowed me to see and understand the overall product, which was incredibly helpful in understanding where my role fit into the overall job, not to mention just really cool. Multiple jobs had me excited because I knew the artist, and for two of them, I had tickets to their concerts.
For custom jobs, I used Inventor to design stairs and mobilator carts, and learned the key differences between packets for on-site and in-shop use. I became familiar with Inventor’s Frame Generator tool, which was especially helpful for the mobilator. Custom jobs were exciting because of the novelty and challenge of each part, especially the mobilator.
Finally, updating stock parts involved applying notes from the shop on how they actually build the parts, as well as making Inventor parts and assemblies for stock that just hadn’t yet been added to the vault. I loved getting to better understand what the company offers and how stages actually go together. For example, by updating the ballast models, I was able to learn more about how truss is set up and stabilized.
Throughout the internship, I learned so much about how stages go from design to reality. I was able to work with incredible people, and I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity. All Access has definitely reaffirmed my desire to work in entertainment production, and I’m excited to see how I can take what I’ve learned and apply it to future opportunities.
Sydney L. Merrill 