Nick Kargel, Proprietor
What I love about my work is the blend of right- and left-brained thinking. To achieve an inspiring experience for an audience — be it scenery that transforms before your eyes, an environment that sweeps you away, or just a perfectly timed light cue in a musical number — takes not just artistic vision but a great deal of technical skill, precision and planning. I enjoy nothing more than turning a lot of hard work into a bit of magic. Fake magic. Which is my favorite kind.
I guess I got my start making movies with my dad’s video camera. My friends and I set up a studio in the basement, complete with curtains (bed sheets), props (laundry hamper as news desk), and lights (probably a code violation). By the fifth grade I was running the spotlight for school plays and never stopped doing technical theatre. While getting my degree in music education (CU Boulder) I worked at Macky Auditorium (the school’s road house) and the opera department’s scene shop. At those places I was lucky to have great mentors and to get an unofficial second major in production. After college I worked a mish-mash of carpenter, designer and technical director jobs until starting You Want What? Productions.
Like most small business owners, at You Want What? I mostly just sit in my office sipping scotch and smoking giant cigars. Which is what I call working with clients, designing our products, and developing the business. Outside that, I also design scenery and lighting for many theater and dance companies. I’ve received Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award nominations for Best Lighting Design (Boulder’s Dinner Theatre’s Ragtime) and Best Scenic Design (Vintage Theatre’s A Streetcar Named Desire). I've even had the opportunity to production manage the Off-Broadway premier of Dot by Coleman Domingo, directed by Susan Stroman at The Vineyard Theatre, and I spent 10 weeks in Beijing (after a year of planning) as Production Supervisor for a Chinese-produced, 50,000 square foot immersive Peter Pan. Ask me about that sometime (preferably over a drink).
I have created my own job doing the work I love with colleagues and clients I respect. We should all be so lucky.
p.s. It was because of my wife, Emily's work that I got to attend the Tonys (pictured). Speaking of lucky.
Lara Monshaugen, Operations Manager
My undeniable passion for the art of stage scenery began with my first experiences in community theater as a small kiddo, where I not only performed on stage, but I also got my first taste of technical theater and set design. Two degrees and many years later, I still can’t seem to get enough!
I received my bachelor’s of art in theatrical design and technology from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX, where I focused on set design with an emphasis in scenic art. After spending the beginning of my professional career in theaters around Texas and Colorado, I decided to go back to school and earned my MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver. I have worked as a scenic artist, designer, stage manager, props master, choreographer, visual and theater arts teacher, freelance muralist, even an escape room artist!--but now I am pleased to find myself doing more of that administrative work that supports the facilitation of the art.
You Want What? Productions has given me the rare opportunity to use my varied talents simultaneously on unique and challenging work that satisfies my ever wandering interests. From project management to administrative support, I love the many hats I get to wear for the many different roles I fill. I feel lucky to get to work in collaboration with such a talented team, where our work regularly brings new and exciting projects to our table and keeps me always on my toes–just the way I like it.