Properties Director: Sandra Strawn

AMERICAN THEATRE: Wisconsin-based artist Sandra J. Strawn is quick to point out that she’s a properties director—not properties designer, and certainly not a properties master (though many people think the terms are synonymous). “I realize that some people think it means you are a master of your trade, but the patriarchy of that term is offensive to many of us who are female,” says Strawn. Her book The Properties Director’s Handbook has helped shape the language around the profession and pave the way for more theatre artists to find their way to power tools.