Mercer Aplin
Senior Consultant
Mercer learned something about indispensability as a high school sophomore when he became production manager of his school's auditorium, giving up his brief career as a performer and beginning what we know will be a long one behind the scenes. He got off to a fast start at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, racking up an impressive resume of sound designs that include RENT and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, along the way winning the Kennedy Center (yes, that Kennedy Center) American College Theatre Award for his sound design on Never the Sinner. He summered 2010 as backline technician at Milwaukee's plethora of festivals, including the juggernaut Summerfest. Displaying excellent judgement, he spent two more summers at a regional theatre in Aspen, working with renowned Broadway sound designers Nevin Steinberg and Brian Ronan. He earned a BFA in Theatre Design Technology and doubled down with an MFA in Theatre Design, Production, and Audio Technology from Purdue University, for good measure winning the Robert E. Cohen Sound Achievement Award from USITT for an original student-written rock opera production of Medea.
Center Stage in Baltimore then snapped him up, employing him as staff audio engineer for a year, including the world premiere of the musical Marley, before he joined Threshold. While at Center Stage, he circled back to RENT, mentoring high school students in their production of the musical at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology and designing yet another production for Montgomery College in Maryland. He knows RENT really well. This wonderful background in sound design, theatre production, and live sound now serves his clients at Threshold.
Recent Projects