With the musical coming up on April 11th I thought it would be interesting to show people the world of backstage theater. I am the stage manager for our theatrical productions, so I can give a small insight on how things are kept running. We have a wonderful production staff, we have Seth Kolhaas, Lighting Design, Mr. Taylor, Assistant Lighting Design, T.K. Kelly, Costume Design, and Grant Miller, Set Design. We have been in the process of rebuilding from COVID for the last 4 years but things are definitely going back to normal.

During this current musical we have had some troubles with the planning for the set building because, our previous Designer had to quit due to medical issues and now we are having to get our new designer the permissions from the school with things like having a key or being allowed to work with the kids without a director present.

 Now I have some quote from our design staff about what exactly they do to prepare for a production: 

“I work with Seth the Master Electrician. With his uncanny knowledge, we are able to craft a masterpiece of cosmic proportions on the stage in the form of amazing lighting. During the shows, my awesome students use our light board to bring Seth’s creations to life onstage.” – Josh Taylor Assistant Lighting.

The last couple of weeks we have been building the set and cleaning the shop to prepare of tech week coming up. 

Tech week is the extremely hectic week right before opening night. For traveling plays it can also be known as load in, where in just a week the crew needs install the set, set up lights and sound, and get some rehearsals in. at CCHS tech week is when the crew starts to be added into the rehearsals. We bring in sound, lights and the running crew to implement the these functions into the show. The rehearsals can run from 4-10 during tech week. 

Pease come out and see Mama Mia! On April 11 at the CCHS auditorium .