Deus ex machina, literally translated, means “god from the machine.”

“It was used 2,500 years ago by ancient Greek thespians and it is still used today,” said Tracy Nunnally, tech director of NIU Theater of Art and Dance.

The Deus ex Machina served as a device to bring the intervention of the gods into a play, primarily when characters were in desperate need of alleviation.

Nowadays, it refers to a rig or flying system and the person who operates it – the theater’s tech director.

In the case of the newly relocated Lookingglass Theatre, that man is Bill Auld, an NIU theater graduate student.

Auld is one of the first graduates of Nunnally’s revamped graduate theater program and a high priority on Nunnally’s program, actor-rigging.

“There are only between one or two hundred individuals in America qualified to fly actors,” Nunnally said. “And there’s an even smaller amount who know how to do it well.”

NIU hosts the world-renowned “Flying Effects Workshop” each year, which attracts tech directors who have worked for Disney and Cirque de Soleil productions, among others.

Nunnally’s rigging experience was what originally attracted Auld to NIU, and NIU’s proximity to the city also put him in close contact with the intimate Chicago theater scene.

“There are only 20 people working the Chicago theater scene at any one given time,” Auld said, “and there’s only one or two degrees of separation between them.”

And it’s precisely by that nature that Auld’s prestigious tech director position at the Lookingglass Theatre was secured.

The Lookingglass Theatre, with celebrity founders including David Schwimmer and Phillip Smith, has recently relocated to a space in the Water Tower Works Building, Chicago. The previous tech director left in a lurch, Auld said, and the Lookingglass Theatre was searching for someone with experience in actor-rigging to work on their production, “Lookingglass Alice.”

One small connection led to another, and Auld’s name ended up in the lap of the Lookingglass administration. His experience was comprehensive, being in some way involved with every NIU theater set for the past two years, touring Japan with a theater company, working with the Flying Circus in Atlanta and on various other projects around the country and, most importantly, simply being well-versed in his trade. He was given the job of co-tech director in time for the “Alice” production.

“Auld takes the biz as seriously as it has to be,” Nunnally said. “You have to be serious, but you also have to learn how not to get a brain hemorrhage when you don’t have to.”

Auld teaches two classes at NIU and recently helped tech-direct the Molière sets for the NIU theater department as well as “Lookingglass Alice.” He knows how to keep it calm, cool and composed, which is just the way he was trained to be.