Pennsylvania

How a Theatre Technology Director is Using AI to Help Run America’s Oldest Theatre

An interview with Colin Riebel, the Director of Technology at Fulton Theatre based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Four images of Colin Riebel, the Director of Technology at Fulton Theatre based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
3 min read

I've been in the theatre industry pretty much my entire life. High school theatre led me to a college degree in lighting and sound design, which sent me working all over the country. In 2016, I began coming out to the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster to do lighting programming gigs. By 2020, they offered me a position to head up the department, so I picked up and moved.

Built in 1852, the Fulton is the country’s oldest professional operating theatre, with a rich history of famous acts like Harry Houdini. As a focal point of the community, we're trying to expand what we do, with classes for the community and schools coming in to see shows.

I think of theatre folks as big problem-solvers, and count myself among them. While I was brought in as the lighting guy, I also know computers, so I quickly became the go-to person for any tech-related help. This role grew organically as I made suggestions about improving our technology, and eventually, my position evolved into Director of Technology.

My first major project was transitioning our entire operation to Google Workspace. The big thing was usability. Since we made that switch and became cloud-based, it’s been rock solid. Instead of constantly troubleshooting, I can now focus on expanding and building new things to improve what we do.

That’s where AI came in. We have a lot of systems running at any given time, like signage for our shows and a big LED wall for donor recognition. These were all manual, time-consuming processes. I wanted to automate them, but I’m not a programmer. I program lights, but I don’t write code.

When I need to solve problems like this, I now turn to Gemini. I can give it documentation for a system, and it will guide me through writing the code, testing it, and reigning it until it works perfectly.

Colin Riebel, Director of Technology at Fulton Theatre

Similarly, while working on the video design for a recent production, I was completely stuck on how to animate certain assets. I must have read the animation program’s instructions twenty times. Finally, I prompted Gemini to act as a program expert. After feeding it the documentation, it showed me exactly what I was missing.

As someone who’s spent so much of my career buried in manuals, it's been a profound change for me. Now, no matter what problem I have or what I’m trying to learn, my first stop is Gemini because it always provides a good idea for a solution.

Colin Riebel, Director of Technology at Fulton Theatre

This new approach extends beyond just technical design. We’re also starting to work with Google’s NotebookLM, putting in service manuals for our facilities, HVAC, and production equipment. It's a lot of information that’s all in Google Workspace, and now we’re able to just ask the question and have it surface that information since NotebookLM just pulls from the sources we’ve provided.

I see AI as a new tool for the arts, just like when we moved from hand-drafting scenic designs to using CAD software. It’s a superpower, and I’ve started teaching classes for more people in the theatre so they can experience its potential. I’m truly excited about what this technology makes possible because I think it allows us to create better art faster and more affordably, expanding what we do without losing that essential human connection that’s at the heart of theatre.