Behind the scenes: What happens in Stage Tech

Students collaborate for a scenetic painting project to learn how to paint bricks, wood, and marble.

As an 8th period class, the class equips students with the skills to design backgrounds and lighting, as well as work backstage for drama productions.

One of the smallest classes on campus — just three students — takes place in the Thermond Drama Center after 6th period on every Blue Day.

The three students in Stage Tech — sophomore Ben Davies, freshman Ashmik Ray and freshman Neel Jayavant — review their agenda with drama teacher Ben Brotzman at the start of class. If necessary, they collectively address any issues.

On a recent day they were prepping for the spring musical “Something Rotten!” and realized they needed a “quick change cubicle. They started off by sketching it on their whiteboard and then sourcing their materials to assemble it all in one class period.

Other days, they work on the individual projects: creating their visions for costumes and scenes vital for upcoming productions.

Students enrolled in Stage Tech have crucial responsibilities such as creating costumes, constructing sets and controlling lighting — all essential elements for a successful production. Stage Tech’ allows students to practice their skills in designing and constructing to enhance drama performances.

“We learn how to imagine them [the scenes] and take them from the page to something realistic,” Brotzman said.

Before Stage Tech was implemented as an for-credit elective in 2021, only a couple students in the program had skills in designing sets, costumes and props for productions, he said.

“I’d have brand new people who didn’t have any skill for every show, so a good portion of our time would be teaching them how to use a drill or saw,” Brotzman said. “But now we have the class where we teach all that stuff so we have a better workforce coming into the shows.”

The class meets every Blue Day after 6th period from 2:45 to 4 p.m. Because it is an 8th-period class, students can take the class without worrying about schedule conflicts.

Stage Tech students start the year off by learning the process behind creating costumes and sets. The class operates on numerous projects throughout the school year to teach skills as opposed to lectures.

A typical class day includes getting together to discuss the daily agenda before beginning individual work. In recent weeks, the Stage Tech class focused on programming the lights for the musical.

For the musical, Ray was among those to design the show’s lights. He uses the controls on the Lightboard to do the work.

Other tasks that Ray, Davies and Jayavant do during classes include the play’s script and referring to the stage directions while jotting down their light design choices.

“You basically have to choose which one would fit the scene the best,” Ray said, “Like if it was like an outdoor scene you choose a brighter, more yellowish scene, but if it was nighttime, you choose something darker.”

On the lightboard, there are numerous buttons that connect to the lights on the ceiling of the McAfee. Buttons are numbered, with ranges of numbers dedicated to different light settings. For example, buttons 1 through 20 are designated to provide warm lights.

On average, it takes about two to three days for each student to design one scene. Ray is responsible for three scenes, so this process can take up to three weeks, considering the class only meets on Blue Days.

Photo by Grace Lin

Davies and Ray control the lightboard during the spring musical “Something Rotten!” rehearsal.

In addition, there is a requirement for each student to get 20 hours of work experience per semester outside of the classroom. For many students, that means helping out during the fall play or spring musical productions. Students can also take the option of working with another organization, such as outside theater companies or arts organizations.

With the amount of hard work happening behind drama productions, Brotzman encourages students who aren’t enrolled in Stage Tech to help out with minor jobs in the fall and spring productions.

“I reserve some of the positions that require a lot more work [for students in Stage Tech]; Generally [volunteers] are going to be running the follow spotlights, or helping out with costumes backstage,” Brotzman said, “We definitely need a lot of help for the drama productions outside of Stage Tech.” The outside tech help includes adult professionals such as Cris Vaughan, who has worked on several SHS productions and was credited with designing and building the set for “Something Rotten!”

Ray also recommends students to enroll in the class. Considering the small number of students in it, there is a sense of community among them.

“I think that’s a fun class and it’s really a class that’s more focused[ed] more on actually trying to learn something new,” Ray said, “and if you are really creative, it’s also something really nice to do.”