Dan Dyckman
Venue Owner - Darrell’s Tavern
Seattle is shaped not just by artists but by the people who kept the lights on. Dan Dyckman served as a behind the scenes caretaker of the 5th Avenue Theatre during its transitional years. While owned by the University of Washington and operated by a nonprofit board, he helped keep the venue running day to day, from backstage operations to touring company logistics and financial coordination that allowed productions to continue.
In a theater known for its ornate design and cycles of instability and renewal, Dyckman was part of the group of operators who kept it functioning through uncertainty. His role reflects the often unseen work of venue stewards who understand a theater as both a stage and a civic institution, sustaining the ecosystem that allows performance to happen.
Photo by Rachel Crick at 5th Avenue Theatre
Transcript
So back in the day in the 90s, my friend Dez and I got hired to stay in the Moore Theater overnight to guard Alice in Chains' equipment before a big show they had. There apparently were some break-ins going on and they didn't want their--and there was some issues, so they wanted some people to stay there and guard the equipment. So we got let in, we had our sleeping bags, and we were fumbling around wondering what we were going to do with ourselves in this giant place all night long.
In the green room there was a big cooler of beer with a big strip of tape across it that said "Don't even think about it." Of course we did and grabbed a couple beers. We got stoned and started wandering around. There was phone calls in the middle of the night, things that dropped. We ran around all over the place all night. It really was kind of blurry because it was like 30-something years ago, but at one point we grabbed the guitar and went on the stage and everything was already set up for the night.
I grabbed the guitar, Dez jumped on the kit, and we started fake-rocking out because we were both in a band together and yelling "Thank you, Seattle!" and looking out over the empty theater and then we kind of got paranoid and so we put everything back exactly in its place. And we just kind of wandered around the whole night in the depths of the moor. It was kind of a crazy night and that was the 90s, you know, just a lot of fun times and that was one of them.