Volume 25 · Number 3 · Spring 2008
Dirty Work and Dream Jobs: Bernadette Silva
(Photo: Karin Higgins/UC Davis)
Junior in biological sciences from Turlock
Job: a member of the stage crew for the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
Not many jobs combine famous performers with heavy lifting, but Bernadette Silva’s does. For the past year and a half, Silva has been helping to make sure that the show goes on: She helps set up lighting, audio equipment and instrument stands; she loads and unloads trucks; she builds sets and sweeps the stage; she provides towels and water bottles for singers, dancers and musicians; she moves seats and the orchestra shell and, basically, does anything that’s needed before, during and after a show. She admits that when it comes to raising and lowering the heavy light bars and curtains, “I usually let the really buff guys do that,” but otherwise her time growing up on a farm lifting hay bales has served her well.
Hitting the heights: Silva’s job includes going up into the “attic” — the space at the top of the 80-foot-high hall — to walk out on the catwalk and adjust the “specials” — stationary lights that are used to highlight performers like soloists or conductors. “I have to go up in a safety harness, which gets clicked to the safety cable,” she says. “If you’re scared of heights, this is not a job for you.”
On key: A musician herself who plays guitar and piano, Silva has met a number of famous people, but found particularly memorable her time backstage with virtuoso Chinese pianist Lang Lang. She has found that most of the performers are friendly and polite, but Lang Lang was especially so, even when his piano bench broke and Silva had to fetch another. A regular part of Silva’s job is to move the Mondavi’s two Steinway grand pianos from their storage room to the stage, and she gets to play them when a lighting stand-in is needed.
Career basics: Silva’s career plans currently lean toward the veterinary or optometry professions. She notes, “I know this job doesn’t directly help me with those, but I’m learning people skills — how to communicate clearly with people, even those from different countries — and I’m learning how to work in a stressful environment, how to work really late or really early. And I’m learning how to be responsible.”
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