HGO Spotlight on: Rehearsal Planning Administrator Jack Ruffer

Houston native Jack Ruffer loves being amazed by grand things—whether it’s by the Olympics, horror films, fantasy books, Beyoncé, or theater, he enjoys being impressed by what other humans can do and create. “I always liked spectacle as a kid,” he says. “I think opera and the human voice have that power of spectacle and amazement. I like being stunned by the power of the human body.” 

As a child, Jack briefly had a dream of joining the circus, but he’s long known he’d rather help make the spectacle possible than be part of it. He discovered stage management in high school and went on to study theater management at St. Edward’s University in Austin. After graduating, he interned at Des Moines Metro Opera, then began taking stage-management gigs all over the country. He enjoyed it, but after a few years, tired of traveling, decided to come back home to work at HGO, first as Artist Services Coordinator, then as Rehearsal Planning Administrator, a position he’s now had for three years.

Just as his title suggests, Jack manages the company’s rehearsal planning, a task that requires attention to detail, people skills, and a gift for multitasking. A large part of his job involves working closely with company artists, ensuring that they are taken care of. During long, demanding days, he helps to guide them from rehearsals and interviews to donor events and more. When rehearsals give way to live performances and the curtain rises on the incredible spectacle that is grand opera, Jack knows he helped make it happen. And he loves that feeling.

Here’s Jack on his life and career, in his own words: 

I did a four year-degree in theater management at St. Edward’s University. I loved the program. Junior year, I did an opera internship as a production assistant for Everest. I was like, opera's so cool, but I still wasn't sure if that's what I wanted to do. A year later, I got a call from a stage writer saying they would be doing a production of Tosca, but not in a theater. It was going to be held on the Circuit of Americas, an F1 racetrack in Austin. They needed a production assistant.

That was one of the most chaotic experiences of my life. The sitzprobe lasted 20 minutes because the cars were still practicing. Then, on opening night, it started pouring down rain. The orchestra spent the first two acts trying to decide if they were going to play or not, and then by the third act, they decided not to, and they all went home. So, then it was  a keyboard, a conductor, and singers, but it made Cavaradossi's aria, “E lucevan le stelle” in Act III, look amazing. It was pouring down while he was singing. I fell in love with the opera itself. It made me think, I want to do this.

My career in stage management began when I applied for an internship with Des Moines Metro Opera and got it. I learned that once you dip your toe into opera as a stage manager, you kind of  stick there because it's hard to find people who understand how opera stage management works. From there, I was freelancing for companies all over the place. I kept getting job after job, went to Sarasota Opera, Utah Opera, back to Austin Opera, and worked on The Nutcracker with Houston Ballet.  

I've always known about Houston Grand Opera. My high school theater teachers studied opera, were opera singers, but later decided they wanted to go into education. One of them has sung with the HGO Chorus a few times, too, so he had that connection. He was telling me about it even before this job was on the radar. I knew that this was a good place.

As HGO’s Rehearsal Planning Administrator, I oversee all the rehearsal rooms and the scheduling of them. I also coordinate any artist requests, mostly with marketing and audience departments, helping to schedule PR, talking with the artists, and getting them on board to do things for the company. I started off as the Artist Services Coordinator in the Rehearsal Planning and Artist Services department, and then four months in, I got promoted to this current position.

Patience and flexibility are two things that really help me be successful in my role. People talk about how opera singers are these divas, and I really don't think they are. They're just humans that want to do their best work. And I completely empathize with that. They're dealing with a weird schedule, and they want to know if their day is going to end at 5 p.m. or 10 p.m. They want every bit of information they can get, and I understand that completely.  

The people make working here the best. I love the people that I work with, especially in the Artistic department. They are some of the most wonderful people. The friendships that I have made, the walks to lunch, and the conversation had during these walks are some of the best things ever.

I’m excited about this next season. Everything feels big, and I love big, big, big things. I've never seen Aida before, and everyone talks about how grand it is. After seeing the presentations for it, it's going to be amazing. But I think above all else, I'm really looking forward to Faust. I love the story, this production, and the director for it. I just think it's an amazing, cool production.

HGO is special because it crafts a culture of wanting the art to move forward. It is really wonderful to see the company blossom. The ego boost that working here gives you—whenever you tell people you work at Houston Grand Opera, and they are like, you work at an opera company? They immediately become so enamored. Two of my closest friends—one is a software engineer, another is getting his PhD and currently finding a way to stop cancer. And I'm the one, apparently, with a cool job.