Luke Mathis grew up on a sailboat, touring Central America with his parents, and quickly learned that when something was broken you simply have to fix it or build a new one. There are no store returns or warranties on the sea.

At fourteen, he returned to the States and immersed himself in the theatre throughout high school, college, and then in the Pacific Northwest theatre industry, where this philosophy made him a popular stagehand. In a few short years he went from taking calls for concert load-ins to building large-scale scenery and automation, and managing fabrication teams for Seattle’s premier theatres, The 5th Avenue and Seattle Opera.

His other physics-defying projects have included three large-scale sculptures for artist Sarah Sze, designing structures and art cars for his Burning Man camp, and rappelling off of a cliff while welding in the rain for the Paramount motion picture “The Hunted.” He was featured as a projectile engineer and pyrotechnician on the Discovery Channel pilot of “In the Name of Science.”

He spends his spare time playing video and tabletop games, camping in his 1964 Fireball travel trailer, and tinkering in his shop at home.

Luke is a journeyman in IATSE Local 15.