Behind the Scenes: A Closer Look into Riverdale's Tech Theater Department
This past February, Riverdale’s theater department performed Urinetown: The Musical, a satirical comedy following a town devastated by drought. Hidden beneath the singing and dancing on stage, however, is the tech theater crew, a team central to the musical’s production.
The tech theater crew operates lights, sound, and scenery. This year the group consisted of 13 people. Together, they worked on countless projects, including building the set of the production of Urinetown.
Managing the musical requires an early start. Vari Sclafani, a ninth grader who participated in building the sets, explains, “most of the work comes before the show.” Mr. Tyler M. Perry, Technical Theater Director and Production Designer in Riverdale’s production of Urinetown, drafted a rough design of the set in October. Building the set, however, only began more recently in January.
“There can be challenges to building the sets,” Sclafani explains. “Sometimes we will start to do something and realize we didn’t do it right, so we have to take it apart and fix it.” Logistical things, including “getting things high up, and trying to rig heavy polls up to the grid at the top of the theater,” can be difficult as well, he adds.
Careful time management during the two month period is crucial to set building. Sclafani reflects, often, “what we had planned out was too ambitious for the time we had allotted so we have to change it.” However, the positives often outweigh the negatives. Sclafani shares, “It is definitely a really fun experience just helping put everything together and just to see everything come together. You get to see the ins and outs of everything and how everything works.”
Five days before the show begins, the tech crew and the cast combine. Together, they integrate both technical and performance elements to the show, producing a real crowd-pleaser. During the show, the tech crew manages everything from spotlighting to sound and scene changes. Within the crew, four people operate spotlights, one is stage manager, one is lighting board operator, a few operate sound and microphones, and others form teams of carpenters and assistant stage managers. “The tech crew are a vital part of the show,” Mr. Perry emphasizes. “While they’re not on stage in front of you doing a tapdance, they are backstage doing a lot of acrobatics, and running back and forth to make sure things are in the right places.”
Junior Sage Lappas, who is stage manager, explains that taking on the leadership role of stage manager was daunting at first. Part of her responsibilities throughout the Urinetown performance included calling every light, sound, and scenery cue. When discussing some of the highlights, Lappas reflects, “I got to see all of the rehearsals, or most of the staging ones. It’s cool seeing how it became an actual show.”
Perhaps what is most astonishing of the process is that the musical’s tech theater classes and tech crew are almost entirely student-run. “Once the show starts, the doors close and the music starts… There is not an adult in the room that has worked on the show. We all stand in the lobby and watch it on a television. The performance you see is entirely done by students,” Mr. Perry explains.
Tech theater is for everyone. Although Lappas does not formally take tech theater as her art, she has held an essential leadership position for Urinetown. As the tech theater program continues to blossom, Mr. Perry encourages students to take on roles in tech theater and tech crew spaces.
