Joe never, ever saw himself as a theater kid. Never. His grand-parents may have been locally involved in theater, his mom may have exposed him early and often to the arts, and sure, his family at large pursued the arts professionally in some way – but not Joe. Joe fancied himself more like his dad, and liked work with his hands to build and create. Even when he went to college at Ohio Northern University and began working on every show on campus, from small productions to large musicals, theatre just wasn’t for him. It took the persistence of a sympathetic professor, the fascinating technology he got to work with for every show, and the need to create to finally show him the writing on the wall. He graduated with a double degree in Music Composition and International Theatre Production.

While he may not play the trumpet at the same level as he was while receiving his music degree, that added background has allowed him to translate the theatric desires of more artistically-minded, like Sound Designer John Gromada on The King’s Speech National Tour for instance, into the technical capabilities of any venue, and vice versa.

In fact, his accepted and acknowledged love for theater brought him all over the country and even to the high seas. Working on SIX: The Musical on Norwegian Cruise Lines as Production Audio/Associate Designer had its surreal moments: instead of walking out of the dark theater onto the same street, sometimes he’d find himself in the middle of the ocean, sometimes in the middle of an island resort.

These days Joe’s the ultimate insider, and, no, that’s not a COVID pun. He’s a baseball fanatic and finally realizing his true true calling: Cubs season tickets and all the insider-baseball talk he can hear. Not one to stop moving, when not giving his all at work, he’s keeping up with his toddler and remodeling his home room by room.