Ted Kraus is currently an Associate Professor and the Technical Director in the School of Theatre, Film and Television, at the University of Arizona. He spent the first twelve years working as a carpenter/welder in production shops, cabinet shops and regional theatres throughout the North East and Mid-South. He then spent twelve years as a technical director, first at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, Tn. and then at the TONY award winning Alliance Theater in Atlanta Ga. After leaving the Alliance, he earned a M.Ed. from Belmont University where his thesis work focused on the study of technical theatre can teach critical thinking and metacognition. This ongoing research informs his teaching at the U of A by driving him to find ways to create contextual problem based learning environments that allow the student to focus on finding and developing the most suitable solution from a field of available options.