Joseph Mounsithiraj had a full summer: in April he graduated from Goshen College with a B.A. in art and a theater minor. Then he capped off his undergraduate career by taking the college’s Arts in London course — attending lectures, galleries, theater and music performances. After that he stayed in Europe to attend the Anabaptistm 500 Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. Finally, from June 2 to July 21 he worked at Hope Repertoy Theatre as one of two assistant heads of electrics.

Hope Repertoy is a theater company that uses the facilities of Hope College in Holland, Michigan. The bulk of their programming happens during the summer, although they also produce a Christmas show.

In the 2024-25 spring semester, Amy Budd, associate professor of theater at GC, sent an email to students looking for summer theater jobs and internships, including details about the openings Hope Repertory Theatre had to offer. Mounsithiraj was a lighting designer and lead electrician while at GC, so he was excited by the chance to gain professional experience in theatrical lighting that the assistant head of electrics position presented and applied for the job.  

As assistant head of  electrics, Mounsithiraj was largely working on the technical side of productions. “We got hang and focus done for designers that sent in paperwork,” he said about the process of positioning lighting fixtures according to the diagrams provided by lighting designers.

Mounsithiraj also mentioned the challenges of the physical work, including leaning off of catwalks with safety harnesses to hang lights. “People think ‘Oh, it’s lighting, it’s all tech-head, you’re at a computer the whole time.’ You’re not. You’re moving heavy things high in the air” he said. 

While not directly involved in the creative side of Hope Repertory Theatre, he still had the chance to put his background in art and lighting design to good use. Mounsithiraj had a chance to help with programming lighting software, a crucial step to make sure the show runs smoothly, and said it was fun to “flex … that side of my brain, [and] not just do manual labor.” 

Among the shows Mounsithiraj worked on while in Holland were “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and “Mary Poppins.” This was his third time working on this show, but it involved using some fairly advanced lighting techniques that made this production challenging.

 “Mary Poppins” was the biggest show of the summer, and used so many lights and projections that the lighting team had to be careful not to overwhelm the building’s circuits. 

Mounsithiraj said that the biggest  area of professional growth he experienced was learning how to work in a larger team. In the past he had largely worked alongside one or two other people. At Hope Repertory Theatre, he was part of a lighting team made up of five workers, often with additional help. This allowed him to learn how to delegate work which meant that tasks could be completed faster than with the smaller teams of workers that he was used to. 

Now that he’s back in Goshen, Mounisthiraj is weighing his future plans. He has been working for Local 187, the Michiana area union of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. His role including loading and unloading equipment and sets for the recent touring production of Les Miserables at the Morris Performing Arts Center that ran Aug. 5-10. 

As far as long-term goals he said, “[I’m] looking at going to graduate school for lighting design in the next couple years.” In the meantime he is freelancing as a lighting designer in the Goshen-Elkhart-South Bend area.