Behind the Curtains

"An Inside Look at the Drama Crew"

(Above: Angel Flores manages the lighting system.)

When Dorthy pulled back the curtains to discover the truth about the Great and Powerful Oz, she was told to pay no attention to what she saw. All the might and magic of Oz, you see, was simply an elaborate illusion. For the Maple River drama program, the folks behind the curtains are also responsible for creating the illusions and technological magic. Drama director Steve Conover has chosen Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer for the fall production because he “wanted to do a Christmas story” in order to “bring that Christmas joy to the stage.” One year after christening the new stage, Conover admits that “technically speaking, we are really starting to dig into the fly system” along with other sophisticated upgrades from the old facility. The fly system, for example, is “terrifying” because it is thousands of pounds of steel over the actors heads that allows backgrounds and items to be brought in or out of the stage. While experienced adults are running this system for this year’s production, several other positions are being learned by students.

Stage Manager

Junior Ella Olson has participated in drama for three years, so she understands and appreciates the many upgrades over the older facility. As stage manager, she learned the ropes from graduate Kiana Ward and is now responsible for communication using the Clearcom system, which is a speaker system that connects the crew headsets along with the dressing rooms. As student manager, she sits with Director Steve Conover to jot down the blocking notes, acting notes, manages the sign-in used to determine lettering, and manages the behavior of the younger members. For example, one of her daily challenges is managing the incoming sixth-graders who are still learning the ropes. Why be a stage manager? “I didn’t want to be a reindeer,” Olson explained, which contributed to her decision to mentor the younger crewmembers. In a typical day, Olson heads to the theater as early as possible to get the binders ready and collect the phones to eliminate distractions. The policy is “a little stern” for the actors but the crew does get to keep theirs to help with communication.

Set Design

A typical day for sophomore Alec Ziegler involves scanning the team for anyone on their chromebooks and nabbing them for construction duty. According to Ziegler, Conover will give him a list of items to build and then trusts Ziegler to find a way to make it happen. Repairs are also part of his daily routine. “This year, the iceberg’s wheel has broken three times” which requires him figuring out ways to repair or replace items. “We’re using forty to fifty year old pieces of wood that have been built in the eighties that don’t like listening to us.” As a farmer, the problem solving he experiences with the sets transfers to his life at home “needed for general maintenance and repairs.” 

While Ziegler works on the nuts and bolts, senior Ellie Braaten provides the finishing touches as a set painter. While she’s been in drama for a while, she “didn’t really enjoy” being on the stage and “enjoys looking at my work” during performances. As a recent member of the tennis team, she arrived a little late in the season and put in “quite a bit” of time during the final few weeks of production.

Sound Board

In the old “Gym-a-torium,” the sound system was set up at the bottom of the bleachers where crew, cast, and the audience were literally breathing down the neck of the controller. Tabitha Barkosky now sits in her own room far away from the chaos. With one monitor showing her sound cues, Barkowsky controls music and microphones during the performance. “Sometimes it doesn’t play or we have speaker issues then us and the actors have to improvise.” One her biggest fears is playing the music at the wrong time or leaving on a microphone for a backstage actor. Luckily, the stage manager has the ClearCom system that allows the crew to communicate instructions from anywhere in the facility. “At the start, nobody knows really anything. They never know when to sing with the music. Now they do,” Barkosky explained.  Once the actors know their parts better, the individual microphones are set up and put to use. Eventually, Barkosky would like to get an acting part in future productions. 

Lighting

Several yards away, Angel Flores manages the light system. According to Conover, lighting was one of the biggest upgrades with the new facility. “We went from ten conventional lights—that if I wanted them to be a certain color, I got up in a lift and put in a gel of that color—to somewhere around sixty where any given light can have one of a million different colors.” All of this can be done with a touch of a button from Angel Flores. Like the cast and crew, Flores has to manage her time well, which involves bringing her younger sibling home before regrouping with the team by 3:30. Then, like the other members of the crew, it’s all about rehearsing and understanding the system. Her booth allows large windows to be opened or closed, where she can listen to the rehearsal live or through the ClearCom system.

Spot Light

It’s a bird? It’s a plane? It’s Ryder Anderson. High above the cast, crew, and crowd, Ryder Anderson manages the two spotlights. “Spotlight can be considered important. There’s a lot of blackouts where the actors need to see what they’re doing. All around it’s kinda fun.” Some of the challenges for Anderson can be “getting sidetracked on my phone” and missing a cue or “talking too loud” which can carry down to the auditorium seats from the catwalk. The technical aspects of his job involve “controlling how bright it needs to be. For most spots, we use full brightness at 100, but in the Little Mermaid, there was a scene where 100 would be too bright and make it look weird so we had to go to 60.” Anderson enjoys the Saturday practices since the school is empty and most of the cast and crew show up. 

Learning the Ropes

A year into the new facility, it’s clear that the young crew takes their jobs seriously. For Conover, he has to balance “teaching the technology” along with the constraints of having the cast ready for the performance. Last year, the microphones were on backorder and didn’t arrive until the day of the performance. This year, Conover is able to embrace some of the features that make the Maple River auditorium unique. He admits that he’s still trying to learn the chips for the soundboard and is waiting for stage monitors.  “It’s a brand new facility. (We have) twenty different line sets (in the fly system). They spent a lot of money to make a really good theater and so it’s just fun to use.”  According to Conover, the crew doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but “they are a bunch of hard working students.” As students, the crew gets a lot of independence and ownership in the production. 

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer will be flying into town on November 9, 10th, and 11th with performances at 7 PM and a matinee on Sunday.

Junior Ella Olson keeps the crew on task.

Director Steve Conover shows Alec Ziegler rigging techniques.

Senior Ellie Braaten helps create a winter wonderland.

Tabitha Barkosky, 8th grade, controls the sound board.

High above it all, Ryder Anderson keeps the primary actors in the beam of his spotlight.

(Originally Published with the Maple River Messenger).