Abby Meredith sets her eyes on the stage during TEDxBigSky

EBS STAFF

BIG SKY – While audience members at TEDxBigSky were indulging in the laughter, tears and inspiration brought on by the annual speaker series on Jan. 25, 14-year-old Abby Meredith was behind the scenes at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center capturing it all on film.

The Ophir Middle School student was in the control booth, monitoring the two live stream cameras on what is called a stream deck, a small LCD keyboard that a video-streamer uses to switch the positions of the cameras depending on the angle needed for the shot. Although she had a little experience under her belt recording middle school volleyball and basketball games, this was her first time working an AV gig in a theater and event of this magnitude.

“I like theater a lot, I love the WMPAC, so it was really fun to go down there and work,” said Meredith. “Even though I’ve never really had a job before, it was fun actually being in charge of something.”

Her passions has roots in a serendipitous moment, when Meredith accidentally walked into a newscast meeting for the Big Sky School District. Andrew Blessing, the technology director, who was familiar with her previous experience, asked if she would be willing to help him out during the production of TEDx.

The rest, as they say, is history.

When she’s not at school or behind the camera, Meredith enjoys drawing, playing the piano and working with animations. Although unsure of her plans for future, save the immediate, she hopes it involves another stint behind the scenes in a theater’s control booth.