Hi there! My name is Silvia Saucedo and I am the Senior Customer Service Specialist here at Grosh Backdrops & Drapery. I wear many hats at Grosh, primarily helping customers with shipping or accounting questions. One hat I am particularly happy to wear is that of retired inventory sales helping customers purchase items including posting current pictures on our website and crafting the descriptions for each drop.
Working daily with these vintage theater pieces that are too old to rent but could be used to decorate the walls of their theaters or in their art installations is not only my job but it has been my passion.
My introduction to theater came when I was a teen. I didn’t grow up going to off-Broadway shows or taking in Sunday matinees of a new play or musical. My journey to “theater geek” status came from my interest in drama during my senior year of high school. I participated in my school’s rendition of the musical Hello Dolly.
I didn’t catch the acting bug, but instead I became very interested in the technical side of play production and tried my best to familiarize myself with the terminology and how everything worked backstage. It was no surprise that in college, I decided to minor in Theater and Performance Studies. I embraced the life of a theater “techie” and spent many hours busily working behind the scenes to help put on my university’s latest production. Soon I was graduating college but I knew I didn’t want to leave the world of theater just yet.
Theater Geek Comes to Grosh
Thankfully, when I started at Grosh in the summer of 2006, I was immediately immersed back in the world of stage production. Grosh rents and sells quality theatrical backdrops to schools, theaters and others nationwide. I was walking among vintage and stage-worn pieces almost on a daily basis. I was also tasked to sell them which has become a fun part of my job. I was meeting customers who were just as excited about theater as I was and I had the opportunity to help them own a piece of history.
Some of my favorite pieces are the ones that stand out and tell their own story, like “Neptune on Burlap” which harkens back to the days of Roman mythology as he triumphs over the waves in the sea.
It’s not all just vintage backdrops. Grosh also sells retired drapery that are ideal for anyone that needs to revamp their theater’s curtains or just want to fly something different during their show.
Our “Ivory Austrian Puff” takes me back to my techie days behind the scenes. The elegant feel of the curtains reminds me of the I’d thrill get watching the opening and close of each scene, standing in the wings and touching the curtains ever so gently, trying not to let the audience know I was there, busily setting up the next scene.
Feel free to browse our retired items and contact me directly if any of these pieces strike your fancy. I am available to answer any questions you might have regarding our retired inventory and if you are local here in the Southern California area, you can schedule an appointment with me to take a look at the drop in-person and feel the material yourself.
Hopefully you’ll be just as happy to own a piece of theater history as I am working with them.
