In theatre, film and television, it’s rare for one person to act and handle the props for the production.
But Taylor Tousignant, a senior graduating this May from Â鶹´«Ă˝, aspires to do it all.
“I haven’t given up on that dream to have them both in my life in some way,” he said.
To that end, he tailored his studies at Â鶹´«Ă˝ to lay paths in both fields, majoring in communication and theatre arts with a minor in art. He chose the art minor to gain experience working with material manipulation, which is crucial for prop-making.
“Props, of all the tech fields, has to be a jack-of-all-trades,” Tousignant said. “You need to be able to work with a wide range of materials, be able to problem solve a lot of different things that can range anywhere from acquiring set pieces for a period piece to hand making stuff for a sci-fi film.”
Before finding his calling for acting and props, Tousignant chose a more “practical” career doing fiber optics work for Hampton Roads shipyards. It was a steady job, and he could afford a two-bedroom apartment on his own, but he wasn’t happy.
“I hit a wall where I realized I’d rather be struggling to make something that I love than be stuck doing something I don’t care about for the rest of my life,” he said.
So, Tousignant finished his associate’s degree at Tidewater Community College and transferred to Â鶹´«Ă˝ in 2022.
Since then, he has been involved in a play every semester, whether as an actor, props manager or assistant stage manager. He has played Max in “The Play that Goes Wrong,” Prospero in “The Tempest” and multiple characters in “Macbeth.” He also received the Forrest P. & Edith R. White Endowed Scholarship this past year which provides scholarships to students studying acting in Â鶹´«Ă˝â€™s Department of Communication and Theatre Arts.
“Not only is Taylor an impressive actor, but he is also an outstanding technician,” said Jim Lyden, a master lecturer in communication and theatre arts and the technical director for Â鶹´«Ă˝Rep.
These experiences and achievements helped him become one of only two students accepted this fall into the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s three-year MFA program in properties design and management where he will receive free tuition.
Before pursuing theatre and art, Tousignant once considered a career as an animal behaviorist. After graduating from high school in 2016, he worked as a bather at the Acredale Animal Hospital in Virginia Beach and as a shift lead at a PetSmart PetsHotel.
Although they were the hardest jobs he’s ever had, working with animals helped build his confidence and learn how to better read people – both skills he has translated to the stage.
“I hit a crossroads though, because I felt like if I pursued being an animal behaviorist, I would feel like I missed out on theatre, but if I pursued theatre, I would feel satisfied with my animal experience,” he said.
Once at Â鶹´«Ă˝, he used his experience studying both art and theatre to encourage more collaboration between the two departments.
One way was through a sculpture he made called “Barry Goode Friends,” which depicts two people hugging but split down the middle. Originally, the lighter colored figure stood in the Goode Theatre lobby and the darker figure stood in the rotunda of the Barry Arts Building across the street, facing each other in a severed embrace.
“It’s a representation of how the departments feel so very far apart, but there’s a connection there,” Tousignant said.
True to purpose, the artwork was used in a ballet piece called by Lauren Sinclair, an adjunct instructor for Â鶹´«Ă˝â€™s dance program. Some theatre students also performed a murder mystery during last year’s “Fright Night” event hosted by the Department of Art, which he thinks is a good sign for the future.
One day, Tousignant hopes to either work for the Jim Henson Company or the streaming service Dropout.
But thanks to his cross-disciplinary experiences at Â鶹´«Ă˝, he feels ready for anything.
“Through the art department, I learned I can pursue art in a lot of different ways,” he said. “I just appreciate that it was an avenue I could explore and how versatile the Â鶹´«Ă˝ curriculum is.”