Katie Daniels
/age: 20 | Technical Director | Hempstead Hall at UAHT
Katie Daniels is the technical director at a performing arts center in southwest Arkansas. Every day, she ensures that each event is prepped with perfection and carried out with ease to guarantee the best experience possible for Hempstead Hall’s clients. She explains her passion, “From an early age, I developed a passion for the work being done behind-the-scenes to put on concerts and shows. I became very close to many people who worked in those ‘behind-the-scenes’ positions and started following them around asking as many questions as I could think up,” she comments. “When I was about 14, I started really getting the hang of lighting. Since my dad was the music director for David Phelps, I would assist the head LDs (lighting designers) with their duties on those tours. At 17, I became the head lighting designer on the David Phelps tour and stayed there until I was offered the technical director position at Hempstead Hall in 2020.” Since a lot of work is put in before, during, and after a show, Katie’s desire is for those duties to be done with perfection so that each show is better than the last. If clients and customers are not happy, then she is not happy. Everything she does is to benefit Hempstead Hall and the community, and for clients to leave Hempstead Hall with a bigger smile than the one they had when they arrived.
Katie enjoys being with family and friends, laughing and just enjoying others’ company. Although it might seem cliché, Katie absolutely loves watching films and series and traveling. “Having already visited nearly all 50 states, I intend on now traveling to every country in Europe at some point in the near future!” she explains. “I’m a bit obsessed with fashion and all things clothes and shoes. My aim is to be fashionable, carry a consistent style, and not break the bank while doing so! You will find me in Goodwill and Plato’s Closet on a lot of my days off – and I use my Poshmark app just about daily. Lastly, I am a football fanatic – and not the kind you think. Apparently, it’s called soccer in the U.S., but I’m sticking with football. I watch primarily the English Premier League, but also keep up with most of the European International competitions. My favorite football club is Manchester United with Chelsea FC being my second favorite.”
Even though she has never been much of a book lover or enjoyed reading for pleasure, Katie holds interest in quite a broad number of things. She has a deep connection to writing – stories, poems, screenplays, etc. She enjoys writing and directing short films, and writes her thoughts and memories down in a journal. (She even has a short film currently in the works.) In 10 years, Katie hopes to be a full-time filmmaker, writing and directing feature films that will be entertaining, meaningful, and valued.
Best piece of advice:
“You can do anything if you have the want to and the willingness to work for it.” — Jack E. Daniels, Katie’s father
Name something about you that very few people know:
“I am very intrigued by abandoned places. I love exploring them and scouting the ones in my area out. I watch a lot of YouTube videos on urban exploration. My favorite channel is ‘Broken Window Theory,’ which is a small group of guys based in Germany that travel across eastern Europe and explore beautiful, abandoned places! I love this channel because not only is it aesthetically pleasing to watch due to professional cinematography, videography, and editing, but BWT gives a detailed but brief history on the place they’re exploring, and it makes it that much more interesting.”