Dave Mickey is a behind-the-scenes guy.

For years he has worked to make sure the lighting, sound and projection for a stage production are creating the magic the audience sees, hears and experiences from their seats.

As the new chair of Cal State Fullerton’s Department of Theatre and Dance, Mickey is taking that expertise to a new level as he applies the planning, coordination and technology of the not-so-glamorous backstage to make things run smoothly out where it will be seen.

For students, that will mean a more thorough exposure to plays of many genres.

For faculty, that will mean more transparency and accountability in how and where the department’s money is spent.

For audiences of the department’s plays, musicals and showcases, that will mean more diverse productions, perhaps opening next season with a Chicano-themed production.

“What are we training our students? What will best serve them?” Mickey asks as he settles into his leadership post.

“This is their high-impact practice. This is them actually producing and doing their art and we want to make sure they’re learning by each production.”

The current season’s productions were set long before Mickey took over the department in July. He takes pride, though, in the homegrown nature of much of its lineup. “Frankenstein,” which kicked off the season, was written by the department’s now-retired chair, Bruce Goodrich, designed by students and directed by a faculty member, for example.

Mickey is already looking ahead to next year’s season and the three after that as he attempts to broaden the students’ mastery and the university’s outreach.

“I’ve really been looking at the outside world. How can we help it shape our season?  Can we pick meaningful work that also goes with our culture of celebration?” he said.

“I’m really looking at how do I open up the doors.”

Mickey, a first-generation college student, earned his bachelor’s degree in theater arts design production from Cal Poly Pomona after a high school teacher all but handed him over to the school. When he was a junior there, a professor guided him into a part-time position at Caltech that had been his dream job – working in a theater and having a desk job.

After seven years there, and still in his 20s, he realized he wanted more and so went to CalArts for a master’s in sound design. His final project was an interactive maze in which players wearing mouse hats heeded sound cues to find the cheese. The university hired him to teach that class for nine years.

In 2011, Mickey arrived at Cal State Fullerton, teaching sound design and show control. A lot of the technology was from the 1980s – analog consoles, CD and MiniDisc players – he said. Changes in the sound cues had to be made in real time – often overnight.

“When I first started I would never have a lunch break, never have a dinner break and never sleep,” he said. “Now with computers I can make changes in a matter of seconds and it’s back in the show.”

Digital sound also allows for very dynamic sound versus a two-source stereo system, he said. “With computers you can have as many outputs as you like to as many speakers as you like. You can make complete surround sound and engulf the audience within the sound of the show instead.”

Mickey had to fundraise and trade up equipment to convert from the old analog consoles, but everything is up to date now. It’s great to be able to teach the students the latest technology, he said, allowing them to walk right into jobs at Disneyland, Universal Studios and Cirque du Soleil. Three years out of school, one student was able to buy a house, he marveled.

Besides updated technology, Mickey is aiming to better serve students by coming up with a four-year plan that would ensure they get experience during their time at CSUF in all theatrical genres, such as classical, comedy and drama.

“Are we actually teaching them the plays we want them to learn over their four years here?” he asked. He has solicited suggestions from faculty for each genre.

He also wants to make sure the productions reflect the diversity of the campus.

Bringing in students from outside the department is another goal. First-year Humanities and Social Sciences students attended “Frankenstein” and listened to a professor who studied Mary Shelley, the book’s author. He’s talking with the criminal justice program about a tie-in with a show with a legal component.

“We don’t have to just be by ourselves,” he said. “How do we engage and do cross-department work?”

For faculty and staff, Mickey has brought transparency to the budget process, opening the books in one meeting to reveal the department’s income and expenses. “Everyone was pretty silent,” he said. He made it clear that when one person asks for funds for something, that means less money for someone else’s request.

Such requests now need to be put on an actual form, not just shouted out at a meeting or buried in an email. Dropbox has been introduced. Faculty members are given a budget and put in charge of how that money is spent. If they spend it all in the fall, there’s nothing left for the spring. He said he’s received compliments on the new system.

“Everyone is happier when a guest artist gets paid on time,” Mickey said.

He also reviewed faculty members’ workloads to make sure they are working what they’re supposed to – no more and no less. He hopes it reduces everyone’s stress level.

“I’m not asking them to go above and beyond for free. I’m asking them to do their job and do it well,” he said. “We’re all there for one mission – the students.”

Finally, Mickey is looking to bring more community members, alums and donors to Clayes Performing Arts Center, through talks before and after the productions.

For “Frankenstein,” the department held a pre-show launch party – a first – as well as a reception afterward.

“I’d love to do a family day for ‘Little Mermaid,’” which opens in March, he said as he pondered more questions. “How do we invite more people?”

Upcoming shows

“Red Scare on Sunset,” Through 0ct. 29

“Punk Rock,” Through Oct. 28

“Cry Baby, The Musical,” Oct. 27 – Nov. 12

“Bell, Book and Candle,” Nov. 17 – Dec. 10

Fall Dance Theatre, Nov. 30 – Dec. 10

“Taking Steps,” Feb. 23-March 18

“’Tis Pity She’s a Whore,” March 9-March 25

Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” March 23-April 15

“The Importance of Being Earnest,” April 20-May 6

Spring Dance Theatre, May 3-May 13

ORANGE >> Firefighters made quick work Tuesday night of a brush fire that broke out near a cemetery in Orange.

The fire was reported at 6:50 p.m. in the 8000 block of East Santiago Canyon Road, behind Ascension Cemetery, according to Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz.

Orange Fire Department units, with assistance from the OCFA and Anaheim Fire-Rescue Department, knocked down the fire within 15 minutes, Kurtz said.

No structures were immediately threatened but strong winds did raise concerns that embers could be carried to some homes not far from the fire location, Kurtz said.

The cause of the fire, which burned less than an acre of brush, was under investigation, he said.

Southern California job growth will slow dramatically over the next three years, according to a forecast by Cal State Fullerton economists.

Payrolls in the region spanning Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Inland Empire will grow at a pace of 1.6 percent this year, 1.7 percent next year, and 1.9 percent in 2019, the university’s annual forecast, released Wednesday, Oct. 25, predicts.

That compares with an expansion of 2.6 percent in payroll jobs in 2016.

“While the national employment has been robust,” the report notes, “job growth in Orange County and California appears to have slowed down over the last several months. Southern California and Orange County, in particular, are in a local downturn as employment growth has stagnated.”

Economists Anil Puri and Mira Farka, authors of the report, write that “there does not seem to be an obvious trigger for the current drop in employment. The unemployment rate is still low by historical standards, and the economy appears to be near full employment.

“The growth rate of employment under such circumstances can be expected to slow down, but, short of an error in data reporting, a full rationale for such a slowdown is not apparent at this time. “

On the upside, they add that despite the lethargic job creation, “local business leaders continue to be enthusiastic about local economic conditions and housing prices are still rising.”

Across the region, the Inland Empire will continue to show the most vigorous payroll expansion, albeit slower than last year, the economists predict.

In 2016, jobs grew in the combined counties of Riverside and San Bernardino at a 3.5 percent rate. That will slow this year to 3.1 percent, next year to 2.9 percent and rise slightly to 3 percent in 2019.

In Los Angeles County, job growth was 2.5 percent last year and will drop to 1.3 percent this year,  rising slightly to 1.6 percent next year and 1.9 percent in 2019.

Although unemployment in Orange County, 3.6 percent in September, is the lowest in the region, the county lags its neighbors in job creation.

The forecast predicts a precipitous drop in payroll expansion to 0.8 percent this year from 2.3 percent last year. Job growth will then slowly accelerate to one percent annual growth next year and in 2019.

Some of the contrast between the counties has to do with home building, which has been opposed by anti-growth activists in cities such as Huntington Beach. “Construction activity has slowed in Orange County, but is continuing at a healthier pace in other parts of Southern California,” the report notes.

In Southern California, construction permits will grow by 15 percent in 2017, then stabilize at that level for the next two years, the economists calculate.  Most of the growth is expected to occur in the Inland Empire and Los Angeles counties.

Construction permits for Orange County, which topped 12,000 last year, are expected to drop to just over 9,100 this year. In the following two years, they should grow at about 8,000 annually, the historical average.

But the report notes, “While the reduction of permits in Orange County may seem quite dramatic, things are not as dire especially when bearing in mind that permit growth had risen by a staggering 34.4 percent between 2014 and 2016,” as Orange County building recovered from the recession slump.

As customary with Cal State Fullerton forecasts, the report delves into greater detail on Orange County than on Southern California generally.

Beyond construction, Orange County has also seen declines in manufacturing, retail, professional and technical services, healthcare and social assistance and local government.

“The declines in healthcare, professional services and retail are more noticeable because they have been some of the main drivers of employment growth in Orange County over the last several years,”  the economists note.

Other worrisome signs for Orange County: The formation of new small businesses has ebbed and the county’s average employment by industry has been shrinking.

“Firms in most industry sectors are reducing their employee rolls,” the economists write. “While this trend began before the Great Recession and accelerated during the crisis, it appears to still be ongoing.”

The average number of workers in Orange County businesses fell from 17 workers in 2003 to 15.6 workers in 2015. Similar trends, however, are also occurring at the national level, the report adds.

Only three industries, which are also the main growth industries in Orange County, are bucking the trend. From 2003 to 2015, employment rose in the arts and entertainment, health care and social assistance, along with hotels and restaurants — all of which grew their share of overall employment.

Orange County accounts for 8.3 percent of California’s employment, but it has accounted for 12.5 percent of reported mass layoffs this year — those which must by law be reported to state officials, the forecast notes.

The 6,000 laid off workers included 905 at Live Nation in Irvine,  332 at American Apparel in Garden Grove, 280 at Kellogg in La Palma, 213 at Nature’s Bounty in Garden Grove, 195 at Nordstrom in Santa Ana, 175 at Royalty Carpet Mills in Irvine, 148 at Wet Seal in Irvine and 147 at Ricoh Electronics in Tustin.

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Everyone has a Levi’s story and Chip Bergh is no exception.
The president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co. related that after graduating from college he joined the Army, and on a break, he traveled to Germany on a Eurorail pass. He spent the night in a youth hostel and like most young people, washed his Levi’s jeans by wearing them in the shower. He took his wallet out of his pocket and laid it on the windowsill and hung his jeans up to dry before heading off to bed.
Bergh woke with a start, realizing that he’d left his wallet in the shower and raced back into the bathroom. “The wallet was there, but the Levi’s were gone,” he said. “Levi’s were as good as cash back then,” and the older they were, the more valuable they became.
The brand traces its roots to 1853 when Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant, traveled west during the Gold Rush and quickly realized that the miners and railroad laborers needed pants that could stand up to the rigors of their work. So he created the patented, riveted blue jean. “It was America’s original start-up,” Bergh said.
The brand spent decades in a growth

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