The Workshop: Events & Design

12/10/2024

Team Tuesday!

Introducing Production Manager, Alexandra Angelova. The Workshop benefits from Alexandra’s quiet focus and attention to detail. A master at Vectorworks design software, Alexandra is the team’s site plan expert. When she’s not taking measurements and converting Google maps to scaled site maps, Alexandra enjoys crocheting in the company of her cat, Gary, and writing haikus for her coworkers.

Alexandra, take it away!

When did you start in the events industry?

The Workshop’s General Manager, Kristen, pulled me from theater into the event industry about two and a half years ago. We had previously worked together as stage managers at Bellevue Youth Theater.

What do you love about TW?

I love working with all the amazing people here at The Workshop. Everyone has a special skill set and I enjoy seeing how we all tackle different problems and come together as a community.

What event are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of a recent social event we produced for Amazon. We crafted a themed happy hour for about 700 Amazon employees. The party featured games from around the world. It was rewarding to help craft it as it came together in a short period of time, both on site and in the pre-planning process.

What event are you most excited for?

I'm always excited for the fundraising stair climb event, Base 2 Space at the Space Needle. It was one of the first events I worked with The Workshop and it is a fun and inspiring event to plan and execute.

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благодаря ви, Lex Luther!

11/21/2024

Let’s hear it for the crew that hones The Zone! Each home football game, this team works hard to put up (and take down!) UW’s longstanding game-day hospitality experience at Huskies’ practice field. Their blend of hustle and spirit gets the job done! 💪🏽💜✨

09/08/2024

Seattle parks are cleaner today thanks to Amazon staff & volunteers, Seattle Parks Foundation, and Duwamish Valley Sustainability Association. The Workshop facilitated the team efforts at parks across the city yesterday;

1. Seward Park
2. Meadowbrook Park
3. Green Lake- Public Theater
4. Green Lake- Aqua Theater
5. Genesee Park
6. Team Genesee!
7. Team !

09/07/2024

It’s tailgate season and The Workshop is officially in The Zone 🏈🔥

08/19/2024

Pulled in from our trip to Great Wolf Lodge; out hops Eli to water the yard and wash the car!

08/18/2024

I’m thinking 200 IM Olympics 2032!

08/16/2024

Move aside Brat Green and Pink Pony Clubbers. The Workshop is having a High Viz Vest summer! 💚👷🩷

07/16/2024

Team Tuesday

Featuring Founder and Producer of The Workshop, David "Dox" Doxtater. Dox leads his business with tenacity and a sense of humor. He's fueled by coffee and a passion to deliver impactful guest experiences through live event production. Dox wears many hats (quite literally 🧢🧢🧢). Producer, Woodworker and Grandpa are his top ranking roles. , tell us a bit more about yourself…

When did you get into the industry?

My career in event production began with an internship at the Folklife Festival in the 90s, which led to roles as the production manager for both Folklife and Bumbershoot festivals.

Top two most memorable events you've worked on? Why?

So many it’s hard to choose! The 9/11 memorial at the Seattle Center stands out as an event for community healing and health. The country was scared, sad and angry. We started the design for a public driven memorial and then let the participants make it into their own experience. It was incredibly powerful to design this memorial then let go and let the community co-create it’s organic development.
I appreciate working with enduring and loyal clients. New Year's fireworks show at Seattle Center and The Zone tailgate events at Husky Stadium are favorites!

What vendor, team, or venue relationship are you most proud of?

The Workshop team and their growth.

What excites you about the industry?

I love how events build community and better futures for communities by bringing people together. Also, I love to solve impossible problems safely and develop experiences that flow and tell a story.

What live event would you like to attend?

I would have liked to experience the Seattle Center World’s Fair events with C. David Hugebanks, the fair’s event planner. And, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, the area’s first world's fair, which defined the UW campus. Both events take credit for forming Seattle into a world class modern city.

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Cheers to the Guy In Charge!

07/11/2024

Every great street fair begins with a single no parking sign.

Tonight, on California Ave the “No Parks” are out in abundance. The Workshop’s crew is training up. Load in for ’s West Seattle Summer Fest starts tomorrow!

Concessions, kids zone, beer garden, stage management, street closures, we’ve got it covered.

Party starts Friday at 1pm. Come say hi! Park if you dare!

07/05/2024

One week until West Seattle Summer Fest! The Workshop & West Seattle Junction Association have teamed up with Seattle Public Utilities and Bold Reuse to make this a zero waste event. Reusable drinkware, dishware, and serviceware will be found throughout Summer Fest this year.

Single use items are prevalent in live events. Switching to reusables keeps thousands of pounds of waste out of landfills. The Workshop is proud to be involved in one of Seattle's first festivals to go all out with reusables on this scale!

06/18/2024

Team Tuesday!

June edition, spotlighting The Workshop's Experience Manager, .parisi.92! AL brings his decades-long passion for festivals, his dedication to hospitality and service, and a wide and infectious smile to every project. His friendly and generous nature paired with his extensive experience in event logistics strengthens vendor relationships and enhances the guest experience at events.

When did you get into the event industry?

My event career began at Seattle’s Folklife and Bumbershoot Festivals where my family had a popular Italian Food Booth. I met a fantastic crew of event professionals who inspired me to produce large scale events like the Fremont Fair. My son Nick and daughter Angela were born and raised in the festival world and continue to work in the industry too!

What do you love about TW?

I love the variety, uniqueness and scale of the events that TW produces, and collaborating with the TW team.

What event are you most proud?
I am proud of all the events that The Workshop produces. I get enjoyment by helping festivals and events, clients, artists and vendors achieve success while creating great and memorable guest experiences. This is what inspires me to continue working in live events.

What are your favorite festivals to attend?

My top pick’s - New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Oregon Country Fair and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. I am looking forward to Thing and Bumbershoot festivals this summer.

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Thanks for gracing us with your grin, AL! 😄

06/12/2024

The Site Visit 👀

Understanding an event site from the ground up is foundational to planning at The Workshop. Site visits begin in the earliest stages of a project and continue throughout the planning process. We make a point to notice the details of a physical space in order to reduce (or in some cases, enhance) their significant impact on production and guest experience. Being on location allows us to take measurements, map existing infrastructure, visualize and plot crowd flow, understand traffic patterns, and strategize contingencies.

A handful of our 2024 event sites include; the Seattle waterfront, Seattle Center, Pike Place Market, Volunteer Park, the Columbia Tower, University of Washington Husky Stadium, and the Bellevue light rail station.

05/21/2024

Highly recommend this upcoming new production of Venus & The Vixens by out friends at EnJoy. I've personally purchased 18 tix! See you there...

Background
Long-time event producers, EnJoy Productions have created a World Premiere Rock Musical, to which The Workshop friends and family is heartily invited – with a discount code just for you!

The new interactive rock musical Venus & The Vixens: Games of Love, runs for 12 performances, May 30–June 16, 2024 at Emerald City Trapeze Arts in Seattle’s S**O neighborhood. It’s a joyous antidote to post-pandemic isolation and technology overload where Gods and Goddesses es**rt audience members on a theatrical journey culminating in an interactive Olympic Games of mythic proportions. The historic S**O building transforms into an Olympic arena where the audience must help Psyche solve challenges, put to her by Venus, to win her beloved Cupid.

You can’t win if you don’t play!

Venus & The Vixens: Games of Love is a fresh take on the mythic tale of Cupid and Psyche’s epic love story with heart-pumping electro pop sounds, games of chance, aerial flourishes, physical challenges, and playful surprises. The venue, Emerald City Trapeze Arts, was chosen specifically for its unconventional aerial performance space, and flexible layout; it perfectly accommodates all the exciting music, food, drink, games and theatrics that make Venus & The Vixens: Games of Love so different and fun.
Vashon Island-based EnJoy Productions is behind this new musical that blossomed during the darkest days of the pandemic. That’s when writer, director Martha Enson, and her husband and producing partner Kevin Joyce, committed to making a show for the public rooted in connection, joy and love. Equally important, they wanted to make a positive contribution to the struggling local arts scene that had generously fueled their own creative juices for over 35 years.

General Admission Tickets, for ages 21+ only, are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. Visit www.venusandthevixens.com for details, tickets and press photos. Interviews with the producing team are available by request. This project was supported, in part, by The Stranger, 4Culture. EnJoy Productions, and Venus & The Vixens, is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike. The Emerald City Trapeze Arts building is located at 2706 6th Ave S in Seattle, WA.

Rehearsals are in full swing. Tickets are selling, and writer-director Martha Enson now spends her days with music director Sari Breznau and her extended theatrical family which includes: Caela Bailey (Venus), Joel Domenico (Cupid), Shadae Simone (Psyche), Kaleb Kerr, Chay Dixon, Patricial Charms, and Alanna Francis (Game Lead Gods and Goddesses) and band members Melissa Montalto, Marina Christopher, Teryn Kilgore, Baylee Harper, and Leah Thomas.

And if you get tickets for one of four shows: Friday May 31, Sunday June 2, Thursday June 6 and
Sunday June 9, you can use the discount code “VIXEN” to get $10 off! Get Tickets
Here! bit.ly/venusandthevixens

Wanna see the show for free? Interested in volunteering to be part of the Venus & The Vixens team? We need help with jobs like set-up, ticketing audience arrival, merch, VIP hosting, clean-up on the performance night(s) you chose, and even helping in the show itself!. Four volunteers are needed each night, and you will be trained and given specific roles upon arrival. Sign up HERE

An interactive love story of mythic proportions.

05/14/2024

Team Tuesday!

This month, featuring Project Manager, Katie McKellar. Katie's friendly, positive, and direct approach combined with her theatrical experience make her a natural leader in live event production. Read on for more about Katie in her own words...

When did you get into the industry?

I've been in the 'official' event industry since April 2022, but I have been working professionally in theatrical productions since 2011.

What do you love about TW?

I love our team. The value we place on the health and happiness of each member of our team is reflected in the quality of our work and our on-the-job joy. We have a blast together!

What event are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of the beer gardens I designed for our 2023 summer festivals. I designed six distinct areas, prioritizing guest experience and safety in the design of each. I'm also proud of my project management on Access Walk, a fundraiser for bodily autonomy. My values align strongly with this event's mission and I was proud to have led it through a successful inaugural year.

**Katie's bonus share**

I started with The Workshop as my little girl turned 4 months old. Starting in a new industry while reorienting to life with a child has been a challenge. Balancing parenthood and career is difficult, but I love getting to create experiences that my daughter can also enjoy. My family gets to visit me at events and see my work brought to life. I value working for a company that values my role as a parent.

05/02/2024

Before there were headlines, there was load-in! Here’s a BTS production view of last weekend’s Sound Transit Bellevue Station Grand Opening.

The Workshop was proud to produce this event and support Sound Transit in marking a momentous civic milestone.

Many thanks to our industry partners for your expertise and coordination. You quite literally ( 👀) set the stage for success!

🎪 + stages + chairs c/o
🔌 c/o
AV c/o
🎉 c/o
🚆🚆 c/o
Radios c/o
🧻 c/o
Security c/o Allied Universal

04/09/2024

Team Tuesday!

This month, we're highlighting The Workshop's Senior Project Manager, Kristen Rosello McVey. Ever the organizer, time keeper, and compassionate leader, Kristen contributes her keen eye for design to projects as well. We'll let the #1 hockey fan and most inked member on our team introduce herself...

When did you get into the event industry?

I started working in the entertainment/theatre industry in 2015 as a stage manager. I worked gigs in the event industry beginning in the fall of 2019 but went full time with The Workshop in 2020.

What do you love about The Workshop?

I love how supportive our internal team is. We uplift each other even at the most stressful times.

What event are you most proud of?

New Year's Eve Firework Show at the Space Needle! NYE 2019 was my first large scale project with The Workshop, I worked as a stage manager calling gate closures for the event. Since then, I've led New Year's at the Needle production as Project Manager. It's rewarding to see my development in project leadership over the four years I have worked on this event.

What event are you most excited for?

Looking towards the future I'm excited to work on grand openings and one-off events. These types of events bring The Workshop's creativity and magic to life.

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Thanks for all you contribute to The Workshop team, Kristen. We are NUTS for you 🥜✌️

04/04/2024

New Years at the Needle 2023 celebrated 26 years producing 's iconic firework celebration. NYE 2023 was the biggest show yet with lighting , drone , and pyrotechnic elements. Thanks to our many collaborators and partners for ringing in 2024 with a safe and highly coordinated 💥

03/27/2024

kicked off its 2024 event season with two stair climbs at Seattle’s Columbia Tower. Our team joined for our second year producing and fundraiser stair climbs this month.

The opportunity to produce the same event multiple years in a row allows our team to deepen our knowledge of a site and refine our production systems, contributing to a smooth, safe and memorable experience for our clients and event participants.

Shout out to Production Manager, for bibbing up and conquering the climb!