TODD EVANS, B.F.A. in Technical Theatre 1997
HEATHER EVANS, B.F.A in Theatre 1997
Todd and Heather met in freshman year and dated all the way through school and were married in 1998. They both worked for Barksdale Theatre, where he was technical director at the Willow Lawn facility and Heather, who started as a car parker, later worked in administration.
In 1999, they moved to Orlando. Heather worked part time at Disney and Todd built sets for corporate trade shows, some of which were at Disney. Then they sold everything and bought an RV to travel the country. They lived in that RV for seven years with two dogs and three cats!
Eventually, they ended up in Las Vegas, where they installed movie memorabilia in guest rooms at the new Planet Hollywood Casino. Each room was themed with a wall case, posters, pictures and a prop table from the same actor or film. Heather handled the logistics and Todd did the installs.
In 2008 they decided to move to Portland, because Heather read an article about the food, beer and wine scene. Todd started doing retail displays and fixtures for companies like Nike, Adidas and Tailormade. Heather eventually became the Senior Executive to the CEO of a global environmental consulting company.
Her company moved them to Boston in 2018 and they worked there until 2021, when they returned to Portland. Heather had been going back every year to work as an assistant winemaker for the wine harvest. Todd got tired of working for other people, so he opened his company, Barrel Craft Studios to design and build niche cabinets, furniture and promotional items for breweries and wineries.
They also share an annual tradition of helping construct the Sierra Madre float for the Pasadena Rose Parade. It’s one of six self-built floats by volunteers and they’ve been part of the core group for 10 years. After these various adventures all over the country, it looks like Portland may be their final location…for now.
