ORWELL — It is that time of year again for Grand Valley – time for the fall play that is. Grand Valley High School will be putting on the show M.A.S.H. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Auditeria.
We like to let the people know what is going on behind the scenes so that they have a better appreciation for the weeks the students spent preparing for the two nights of the show; and this time we are focusing not behind the curtain, but in front of the curtain. We are shining our spotlight on the Tech (short for technical) Crew.
Jackie Miller, a senior, is head of the Tech Crew. She has been involved in drama since she was a freshman but hasn’t always been in the technical aspect. When she started as a freshman, she began on stage crew and set construction.
“But every freshman wants to know what goes on in the booth,” Miller said, referring to the window overlooking the auditeria, “and because I knew the seniors who were in Tech Crew at the time they let me help out and I really enjoyed it. From then on that was all I wanted to do.”
There is a lot of major work that goes into preparing for a show. The lights that hang from the ceiling and shine on the stage have to be rearranged. The light bulbs have to be changed, while some lights have to be added, while others have to be taken down. Light gels, the colored filters, have to be changed as well. The tech crew does not only work with the lighting, they also work with the sound system.
“We have to make sure the microphones work properly. We also have to make a mic list so that we know which actor has what body mic. It is kind of like having a school book, except we go by names and colored pieces of tape instead of numbers,” said Miller.
They also make wires and extension cords. When the tech crew doesn’t have anything immediately pending to work on, they help with the set construction.
“The set has to be basically done before we are able to do most of the things we need to do,” Miller said. “I operate the sound and light boards. I have to set the stage up for concerts and ceremonies as well for plays, which means I am at every school function that involves a microphone and is held in the Auditeria. It gets pretty hard to hang out with my friends because I am always at the school. It is fun, though; this is what I want to do when I grow up, so I plan on attending college and majoring in technical theater. I don’t, however, like the fact that people don’t realize that what I do takes time. They are always trying to rush me or they get mad when their microphones aren’t working quite right. I also don’t like the stress.
“For plays, we have to wait until the stage is, for the most part, complete before we can aim the lights, which takes a lot of time. The lights have to be aimed perfectly or it takes away from the illusion and makes you realize you are watching a high school play,” Miller said, then added, “You can’t have a good show without good sound and lighting.”
“I don’t do all of this by myself, though. Chris Cedar, Katie Beals, Katlyn Baird, Mac Crum and Olivia Padale are also in tech crew,” Miller said. “Mr. Dingman, the drama director, supervises making sure we don’t do something that could electrocute us or cause something to catch on fire,” she added jokingly.
Miller admitted, “I believe that the freshmen think I am a ‘meanie’ because I am always yelling at them about how they treat the equipment because a lot of the tech stuff can be broken easily.”
“We focused more on the costume loft instead of replacing the technical equipment this year,” said Donald Dingman, then added, “however, we did have to replace nine body mics because the FCC had sold the channels specifically set aside for theater microphones to other companies, meaning our microphones could pick up a radio show when we turned them on, which could be bad.”
It is a complicated world behind the scenes of plays, concerts and ceremonies. Hopefully, now more understanding can be given to the people who shine the lights and work the sound, especially Jackie Miller.
Next Generation
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Lots of work goes into preparations for GV's fall play
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