Throughout the week of March 17-24, The Highlands Theater program performed the 1955 musical, Damn Yankees.
When going to a play or musical, people only wonder how long the actors took to rehearse their lines, songs, and choreography. But, behind the scenes, there’s much more than what meets the eye.
While the actors take charge of the stage, the technical crew handles the behind-the-scenes tasks: stage management, costumes, makeup/hair, props, set/run crew, sound, and lights.
Each crew works with the actors to help bring the show to life.
For each show, theater director Jason Burgess requires a short interview to be a part of the crew. This is to ensure that the members are suitable and that everyone gets a chance to be in whatever department they wish.
The stage management crew consists of an assistant director, production stage manager, assistant stage manager, student technical director, dance captain, technical director, theater director, Jason Burgess, and the music director, Jisoo Bae.
This year, Seniors Bradley Groneck and Rowan Cavanaugh, Juniors Oliver Martin, Em Varland, and AJ Street, and Sophomores Addie Littner and Harrison Schultz took on the responsibility of creating the student stage management team.
These students attended rehearsals and made sure everything went smoothly both on stage and off. They also took account of build reports after each work day and held production meetings with the designers of each crew.
For Damn Yankees, the costumes department was run by Juniors Sydney Beach and Megan Reichert, as well as Freshman Kara Laber. They chose, sewed, and designed the actors’ outfits for each scene.
For this show, they ordered custom baseball uniforms for each of the baseball players along with every crew member to add some fun backstage.
Besides the baseball scenes, there are multiple dance numbers and other scenes that require the actors to be in regular costumes. The crew then pulled from the department’s wide range of shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, and coats to build cohesive costumes. Each part of the costume is then labeled and hung in the dressing room behind the actor’s name.
For special or custom costumes, Seamstress Megan Reichert was in charge of sewing them. Additionally, she was able to alter and hem any costumes that needed it.
The costume crew was also responsible for something called “quick changes.” Quick changes are an act to switch an actor from one costume quickly. Each person on the crew is assigned one person throughout the show to make sure they can get back on stage on time.
During the duration of Damn Yankees, Senior Jameson Zoller who played as Joe Hardy had many quick changes involving his baseball uniform.
Crew member Ava Lynn Jansen says, “I have done makeup and costumes for so long, and I love the people and what I do.”
The makeup crew consisted of makeup designers Sophomore James Wilson and Junior Peyton Pope.
Assistant Makeup Designer, junior, Peyton Pope says, “I love being a part of this community because I can make new members feel included along with growing myself.”
The makeup crew spent a lot of time creating and executing their designs for each character in the show. The designs ranged from bold to simple, depending on the character. Makeup is also able to enact old-age makeup onto the actors if that’s what their role requires.
The cast received a call time sheet for exactly when they needed to be ready for the crew to do their makeup.
For Damn Yankees, every girl in the ensemble was required to have different hairstyles for each character they portrayed that fit the 50’s time period. Each crew member had to be attentive and ensure their hair was done before going on stage.
Sophomore Avery Nieporte and Freshman Izzy Brown ran the props crew. Props is in charge of picking out the items used on stage and making sure the actors have the right things for each scene. Each item is put onto a table sectioned off scene by scene. However, some of the bigger props are held on the stage’s wings, so the actors can have easy access.
The sound crew was run by Senior John Dougherty, Junior Max Hamilton, and Sophomores Violet Hisey, Gabe Talbot, and Warren Deaton.
The designers’ before-the-show tasks consist of miking actors and doing a sound check. The sound crew hooks up each actor with a microphone. To ensure there are no errors before showtime, every actor must say a line and/or sing on stage. If there is a problem with the mic, their crew is nearby to adjust it or give them a new one.
During the show, the sound crew ran the music and the sound effects, and they turned off the mics of the actors coming off stage.
Working closely with sound for the majority of the show was the lights crew run by Sophomores Gabe McDermott, Penelope Kolb, and Evan Hart. Lighting not only had to put a spotlight on the actors but also had to create an experience on the stage for certain characters, such as the red lights that portrayed the Devil and the pink lights used to depict Lola.
Lastly, the set crew consisted of designers, Juniors Addi Tallent, Jack Langlanais, and Shreya Vaghela.
Designers and their crew spent multiple hours designing, building, and painting the set used for the show. Some of the main pieces used for Damn Yankees included a baseball dugout, lockers, and crowd stands.
Besides putting the set together, the set crew also moved the pieces off and on stage during scene changes.
So, next time Highlands Theater puts on a production, think about what takes place when the curtain is closed.
