((L) Tom Hansen (R) Robyn Hansen | Photos courtesy of Sunriver Stars)
We give you a two-for-one introduction today as we present a husband-and-wife team, Tom and Robyn Hansen.
Tom grew up in Minnesota with a mom and dad who were interested in the arts and that interest rubbed off on him. He has always preferred the technical side of things so that made him a perfect candidate to take on the role of technology director for the Sunriver Stars Community Theater. Tom reminisces that one of the experiments he did as a boy was to secretly wire the TV speaker into his radio so he could listen in bed with no one the wiser! He got away with it for three weeks before his parents found it.
Hansen did perform on stage in a production of Fiddler on The Roof, but has always preferred building the sets and helping behind the scenes. Hansen used his ability to create things with his hands to begin his career as a Junior High shop teacher but soon jumped into the cable TV market out of Chicago. Once established in that business he was hired away to become the plant manager of a small, family run cable company in Newport, Oregon. He soon became involved in the community as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Optimists and chaired the Newport Seaport Wine Festival where he would eventually meet Robyn.
His boss at the cable company was to do the lighting for an upcoming play with the Porthole Players and had to leave town and asked Tom if he could help out. Tom’s daughter was in the show so he got involved and shared his skills with the theater. Soon he was building sets and doing the lighting and photography for the theater.
Robyn grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon, and loved to sing. She enjoyed performing with her high school choir and glee club but pursued her interest in wildlife management at Oregon State. She worked at the Undersea Gardens on the Newport, Oregon Bayfront, and one day her boss asked her if she liked to sing. Robyn was then invited to join the Oregon Coast Chapter of Sweet Adeline’s and sang with them for ten years. Robyn, like Tom, enjoyed taking an active part in her community. It was while she was on the Board of The Newport Seaport Wine Festival (which she has also chaired) that she met Tom… and the rest is history! Robyn retired from DHS after 21 years as a case manager.
The Hansens moved to the Sunriver area after retirement and, both being ‘people persons’ with a love of being actively involved, they looked for local opportunities. Robyn became a volunteer at the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory and Tom was introduced to the Sunriver Stars and began by doing the sound and lighting for their production of The Secret Garden. He most recently used his expertise in photography to film the SSCT Kids Camp production of Willy Wonka. Robyn joined in and soon was volunteering as a ticket scanner and greeter and look at them now… Tom serves as SSCT vice-president and tech director and Robyn is the recording secretary. When they aren’t working on a Stars production, they are camping and RVing with The Jumping Junipers of Central Oregon, Polk About Sam of Dallas and the Oregon Good Sams’ or boating off to camp on an island.
You might not see Tom and Robyn onstage when you attend a show, but it is because of their continued commitment behind the scenes that the Sunriver Stars continue to shine.