Dozens of students from City High, known as “Tech Crew,” work together backstage to make magic happen on stage. With their skills in tech and building, they are working on building the set for Disney’s Frozen. They have been working almost every day after school since February 10 to ensure everything is done on time. This year’s stage manager is Elaine Burer, whose job it is to oversee the entire production.
“I love working behind the scenes because I get to see and appreciate every detail and every hour of hard work that goes into each production. Usually, I’m calling the cues to open the curtain and all the starting lighting and sound cues, so my mind is pretty occupied. It’s so exciting when the curtain first goes up on Opening Night because no one in the audience knows what’s about to happen” Elaine Burer, 26′ said.
Tickets for Frozen the musical at City High on April 24th through the 26th are now for sale online through Seat Yourself.
The Tech Crew works on construction of the set, paint, makeup and hair, costumes, props and special effects, sound and lighting, publicity and house, and backstage fly and shift crew.
“All the different crews bring their area of expertise to the table. If we only had one crew, for example, the construction crew, all we would have is a really good set, but there would be no painting for it, no lights for it to be seen by the audience. It’s so important that they all work together to create our production because it allows them all to hone their project in the way only they can, and we can have the best product possible in every aspect,” Elaine said.
Costume Crew handles everything from planning outfits, fitting them, and handling and supporting costume changes. Being in the crew requires at least 20 hours of work, and they typically meet 2-3 times a week. The “fallout” shelter located in the basement across from the ceramics class has access under the stage and also makes a great place for storing bins and bins of clothes from past shows. Although it seems as if the Costume Crew already has everything, sometimes costumes need to be borrowed or purchased from elsewhere.
“The most challenging part is getting the costumes approved. After a costume parade, we get a lot of costumes rejected, and then we have like two weeks to get them all together,” Sorae Ketchum ‘28, a Costume Crew lead in training, said.
Zoee Noble is one of the leads for the paint crew and is in charge of directing and managing all the set pieces to be painted once they have been built by the Construction Crew. The schedule is hectic, since everything has to be completed before it can be painted, and there is a limited amount of time to finish each piece before opening night. Painting days can range from nothing at all to over four hours, depending on the work that needs to be done.
“I love theater so much. I did sound and lighting in middle school, so I was kind of wanting to try something new. I decided to go into the paint crew. When [the previous crew leads] left, who were kind of our mentors, I thought ‘I kind of want to try that,’ so I put my name in, and I got chosen,” Zoee Noble, 27, one of two paint crew leads, said.
Someone in the sound crew would work on the technical aspects like lighting and sound. These include working in the booth in the back of Opstad to control lights and sound, and preparing and planning everything. Opstad’s new renovations will include state-of-the-art stage lights and will hopefully be done in time for the show. Lighting and sound set the mood and tone, and they also do all of the technical elements to make sure the whole show is complete.
“Lighting Crew involves a lot of communication with people [and] a good work ethic. Having some prior knowledge of lighting would help, but [we] mostly focus on how the lights work and how to effectively light a scene,” Micah Hartwig ‘28, who plays King Aggnar in Frozen but has been in Light Crew during past productions, said. “The lighting crew is also a good way to make friends with similar interests and meet new people.”
Frozen will run the weekend of April 24 – 26, with shows on Friday at 7:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The countdown is on, and with less than a month until opening night, it’s safe to say that everyone is excited for this year’s production.
