Twice a year, the M-A Chronicle publishes an article about M-A Drama’s theatre productions, highlighting the talented cast members. But some of the most important people in the running of these shows are often left out: the tech crew.
At M-A, tech comes in both the forms of a club and a crew. The Tech Club meets every other Wednesday at lunch on the Performing Arts Center stage. During meetings, club members discuss their tech responsibilities for M-A’s current production, work on promoting their club, and casually hang out while eating lunch together.
“Tech Club is a place where anyone interested in learning about theater and stagecraft can come help with M-A’s productions,” Tech Club president senior Myla Butzlaff explained. “We are a close-knit community that works together to form beautiful shows.”
Experienced Tech Club members often end up on the Tech Club Board, with special roles and responsibilities to help run the student-led club. “As the Tech Club president, I mainly organize all of the club and crew meetings,” Butzlaff said. “During the shows, I assign roles to members, communicate with the director, and help train new tech members.”
Tech Club mainly meets at lunch, like any other school club. But it should not be confused with the tech crew, which is a related-yet-different group that works directly on M-A’s productions through roles like building sets and running lighting.
While most Tech Club members are also part of the Tech Crew, you don’t have to be in one to be in the other. “There’s a lot of overlap between Club and Crew, but if you don’t want to run shows or just want to help build sets, just come to the lunch meetings,” junior Logan Greenbaum said.
During school play season, the tech crew builds and paints sets after school. During the actual performances, crew members have individual jobs. Tech Crew roles include lights, who run lighting changes; sound, who maintain volume level and prevent microphone feedback; fly-rail, who move the curtains; propmasters, who keep track of and organize props; run-crew, who move set pieces and help backstage; and ushers, who welcome audience members and pass out programs.
Tech crew members are encouraged to try different jobs during different shows, but many find their favorite and stick to it. “I’ve done a couple of jobs, like spotlights and ushering, but I’m currently doing fly-rail and so far that’s been my favorite,” Tech Club vice president junior Maeko Solomon said.
“I’ve done lights for all three shows I’ve done at M-A,” Greenbaum said. “I sometimes help with programming before the show, and during the show I run all the cues so all the lights change smoothly.”
“There is no prior experience needed to join Tech,” Butzlaff said. “We will teach you how to build sets, run lights, and any other roles you might be interested in.”
If you are interested in joining M-A’s Tech Club or Crew, follow @mahs_tech on Instagram and show up to a meeting in the PAC every other Wednesday during lunch.
“Working with M-A Drama has been one of my most rewarding experiences in high school,” Butzlaff concluded. “We have created a family that puts in hard work and creates beautiful results.”
