Lights. Sound. Costumes. Makeup. Tunes faces. Action.
Tiger Tunes season is in full swing all across campus, beginning with Wednesday night’s dress rehearsal and continuing today with more than 300 GROW students and parents and alumni flocking to Jones Performing Arts Center (JPAC) to watch the 34th annual Tiger Tunes performance. Many people are involved in the production of Ouachita’s most famed musical event, including Ouachita Student Foundation members and the JPAC crew. However, one of the biggest, most overlooked driving factors in Tunes is Joey Licklider, the production manager for JPAC.
Licklider is in his 15th year working in JPAC. His first four years were as a member of the JPAC crew for work-study during his time as a student at Ouachita.
“I never left,” Licklider said. “I just loved it so much, when the director left right before I graduated, there ended up being a job opening and I decided to take it.”
In his 15 years working in JPAC, Licklider has perfected all of his duties of the building.
“As the production manager for the building, I have to schedule lots of things. There’s the calendar and lots of paperwork. I do the budget for the building. I manage the crew workers, managing their work-study pay and schedules and assigning them to the show. Then there’s running the show. Designing the show and lighting and setting up for whatever needs to be done. Working with the director if the show has a different director. Working with other designers. Coordinating the production,” he said.
During the peak of his busy season, also known as Homecoming week, he spends at least 12 to 15 hours a day in JPAC.
“It will get to be a little bit easier once the show starts. We’re just running the show. It’s got a lot of prep work and rehearsals and fixing things and that’s what takes so long right now,” Licklider said.
However, he can see a light at the end of the darkened Tiger Tunes tunnel.
“Once we get through Wednesday night, it gets easy. There will be a few changes to make because it’s rehearsal. But Thursday, Friday and Saturday are just relaxing and preparing for the show,” he said. “Emotionally, mentally and physically, it takes a lot to get through a show. It never stops.”
Once the end of Tunes is finally just within his reach, Licklider plans to get some much needed rest and relaxation.
“On Saturday, I will sleep late,” he said. “There’s all the Homecoming activities, but I’ll still get to sleep a little late. We do two shows on Saturday, so that takes a lot. Doing two shows in a row is really tough. Especially how close they are. There’s a few things to reset between the shows just to make sure we’re ready to do it again. And the club’s order changes each night, so there are changes that have to be made.”
For the big show changes that cannot be made for this year’s show, Licklider has already begun thinking about next year’s show.
“I’m already working on next year’s Tiger Tunes. Just things that we can’t change right now, but can be used in next years’ show,” he said. “Bigger and better. It’s the 35th anniversary of Tiger Tunes next year. We’re going to pull out a lot of stops for the show.”
During the year-long process of Tunes preparations, Licklider forms strong bonds with the hosts and hostesses.
“We pick hosts and hostesses in February so they start right away working on music ideas and getting the show formed,” he said. “We have a lot of fun. Getting to work with them from February, we work with them through the semester. Then they move back in a week early to start learning choreography and music for the show. We’re pretty much together four or five days a week all the way through the end of the show. I probably could do their songs with them.”
Although he claims to know the songs, Licklider won’t be appearing on stage any time soon.
“I can’t sing, but I know all the words,” Licklider said. “I’ve always been running sound for the show. I don’t want to be on stage. I can’t sing, I can’t dance. I let the good people do that.”
He has been letting the “good people” do just that for 15 years now. Never a singing and dancing participant of Tiger Tunes during his days as a Ouachita student, Licklider has always been on the production end of the show.
“I knew I wanted to do this kind of work, working in theatre of some sort on production and doing production work. I had applied at a few places before I graduated and then it just worked out that Ouachita was going to be able to hire me after graduation,” Licklider said.
After graduation, he turned around and found himself, along with one other person, managing the building.
“At first it was different going from a student to a management position,” he said. “It was different at first, but now it’s a lot of fun. I get to work with the teachers that I used to have class with, and it’s a nice connection with them.”
Licklider cherishes the connection he has with the school and the people of Ouachita, especially since working in JPAC is the only real job he has ever had.
“This is the only job I’ve ever had,” Licklider said.
In addition to his only job, Licklider has picked up a hobby with half of a pilot’s license — only half because of the busyness of Tunes season — with hopes to complete his training by the end of the year.
“I’ve always been interested in flying airplanes and I even applied to be an astronaut once. But, I got rejected. Quite a few people have their private pilot’s license. I can rent a plane and fly home to south Texas in a couple hours. It would take about 8 hours to drive, but flying takes about 2,” Licklider said. “And I don’t even have to go through security checkpoints.”
For his time spent on the ground out of the air, Licklider prefers his home inside Jones Performing Arts Center at Ouachita.
The place he’s helped transform for hundreds of events, affecting thousands of students has also impacted his life in a big way.
“I love working at Ouachita,” he said. “It’s a great place to work. I have a lot of fun in here and get to do a lot of fun stuff. It’s great.”
