Above the bustling Elizabethan-costumed crowd, an over six-foot-tall high schooler takes in the bright sights and sounds. Students’ laughter and live orchestral music echo through the air. On this trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival during high school, K-12 Performing Arts Production Manager Brian Larsen first encountered a spark for performing arts, which turned into a life-long passion that reverberates through the dedication in his current work. 

Acting was Larsen’s first outlet for storytelling on stage, allowing him to understand characters’ mindsets and explore their complexities. Shakespearean roles stood out to Larsen because of the numerous roles for tall, loud men. 

As he became further involved in the industry, Larsen realized that stage production offered more stability than acting. Working as a technician allowed him to stay in the performing arts without the uncertainty of acting jobs. At Harker, he applies his background to foster his students’ creativity. 

“I liked telling stories, and I liked inhabiting characters,” Larsen said. “But there are a lot of talented people out there and not a lot of spaces available. What I discovered is there was consistent work available for good technicians. Very few people are sending their children to Harker to be performers. So, if I can make the students understand that art is important, those things continue from their time here.”

Working as a part of several different theater and production companies before Harker, Larsen experienced performing and teching communities developing an adversarial relationship. However, he believes putting on a successful show requires cooperation between technicians and actors. 

Larsen carried this philosophy to Harker’s performing arts program, where he strives to create opportunities that connect those on stage and behind the scenes. He encourages technical theater students to explore various sectors of the arts. 

“We want to have the technician students also perform so they can understand that energy,” Larsen said. “It’s useful for me as a tech person every once in a while to act and go through that process. I always find things that I take back to the technicians to remind us of a better way to do a job for the performers.”

Through his work at the Sunnyvale California Theatre Center, Larsen met Technical Director Paul Vallerga. Vallerga highlighted Larsen’s ability to bring laughter during high-pressure times. 

“He is always concerned with how people are feeling, which is important in theater because there can be stress that comes with this,” Vallerga said. “He likes to goof around and be silly. One time, we were waiting for something to get fixed, and Mr. Larsen got up, and he did an improvised, performed, modern dance with a staple gun. It was brilliant.”

Transitioning from the Sunnyvale California Theater Center to Harker, the pair has remained together since the upper school’s initial rounds of hires in 1998. Larsen recalls his first look at the original Saratoga campus stage. 

“With California Theater Center, one day we would play in a beautiful 2000 seat theater,” Larsen said. “The next day we’d play in a convention center that had all concrete floors. We had to adapt every day to something different, so I had that flexibility built into me. When I first saw the Aux stage, I went, ‘oh, that’s small.’ I had big ideas, so I said ‘let’s just figure out what we’re going to do.’”

Adaptability remains a central lesson in Larsen’s classes. In addition to his role as production manager, Larsen also teaches technical theater courses—an opportunity he loves for connecting with students.

“Shows will repeat things we’ve done already, and people ask if it gets boring,” Larsen said. “It doesn’t because the focus is on the students, and the students are new. By staying very connected to and focused on the kids that are coming through the program, it continues to be exciting because different people bring different skill sets.”

Drawing on his background in performing and transforming into various characters, Larsen remembers one of his first jobs at Harker as a lower school substitute teacher. He looked forward to second-grade class storytime, where he used different voices to inhabit story characters. 

At the upper school, Larsen still helps students through his acting expertise. Assistant technical director Aren Olson, who has worked with Larsen for over seven years, commented on this often unacknowledged side of Larsen. 

“When we’re prepping for productions like senior showcase and one of the seniors needs help with their scene, Mr. Larsen will step in and help them,” Olsen said. “Because he has that experience, as an actor and director, he knows what choices could be good, and he knows how to express it in a way that an actor would understand.”

His ability to engage students translated naturally into another passion of his: cooking. Almost a decade ago, Larsen extended his teaching at Harker into the summer, where he guides a middle school enrichment course on cooking. 

Larsen recounts how his ReCreate Reading cookbook Samin Nosrat’s “Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat” inspired him to create a summer cooking class organized around mastering the fundamentals of cooking. He felt proud when his students’ thoughtful questions showed their excitement for learning.

“Cooking provides this great opportunity to work with the kids and give them something practical,” Larsen said. “Even if they never make the recipes again, they’ve learned how to chop, saute and other basic skills. Teaching somebody how to feed themselves is rewarding. At some point, they’re going to have to eat a meal, so I love that they know how to put something together in the kitchen.”

At home, Larsen continues to embrace the art of cooking. He brings his elevated knowledge into the kitchen, where his favorite meals to make are nostalgic and comforting. 

“I like to cook Thanksgiving every year, especially the rituals involved in it,” Larsen said. “When my kids were growing up, they never wanted my stuffing, and now they’re adults and they come just for the stuffing. I’m happy to know that they’re excited about that. I love that transmission of tradition. I continue to make the food that they grew up with, and they’re excited about it as well.”

Whether through theater, technical production, teaching or cooking, Larsen remains committed to storytelling and actively engaging curious minds. He strives to leave a lasting impression on students as they move on to different stages of their lives. 

“We have had people from [Harker] who became artists themselves,” Larsen said. “But we also have people that do four years of performance here and go to college and say ‘That was really valuable, but I don’t have time to do that anymore.’ I respect that. What you can never take away is the experience—being part of an ensemble or performing in front of an audience. That energy is carried forever.”