Friday, December 16, 2011
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Putting the Electric ‘ in Electric Man
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ENTERTAINMENT
12
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Tech crew overcomes difficult environment, builds spectacular sets By Tim Angerame Entertainment Editor John Meyers Jr.’s production of his self-written “The Electric Man: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla,” a play based on the life of inventor Nikola Tesla, credited for developing the alternating current electrical supply, has gone underway this past week. Meyers came up with the idea 15 years ago and wrote the script 3 months ago. But while the actors are were memorizing their lines and preparing their costumes, the tech crew was preparing the set and rigging the lights, sound and electricity needed to run “The Electric Man.” “They are the unsung heroes of any production,” Meyers said. The tech crew, which consists of usually nine to 10 people, doesn’t have any set roles, and gain experience in all fields under tech crew director Matt Erbach. These fields include sound, lighting, construction and painting. Junior Hannah Trezise, a painter in her first year with Prospect’s tech crew, said that anyone, experienced or not, can learn from tech crew, and choose the field that they’re most comfortable with. Trezise said Erbach, who’s worked with Prospect’s tech crew for seven years and 15 overall with tech crews in general, frequently teaches them new
techniques, such as how to work with tools. “You keep learning,” Trezise said. “Even if you know how to use stuff.” The tech crew meets during show seasons from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. or earlier. Meeting every day can be difficult for crew members with difficult schedules, but junior Jackie Surletta says “you just learn to work around it.” Surletta says the crew works every day “to make everything look perfect.” The play required a two level set, which the crew had to figure out how to support and make safe for the actors. Trezise said the crew had found difficulty in constructing the bases and hand railing of the set, two key safety aspects to the set. Senior Max Colon, who mainly works with light and sound, has been in tech crew since he was a freshman. Colon and the other members of tech crew were surprised to learn that Prospect’s auditorium wasn’t even designed as a theater, but rather designed and built as a multipurpose room. According to Colon, there is no catwalk that would provide easy access to the stage lights, unlike a normal school theater. Instead, they have to use a 15foot ladder to service the lights. Colon said that because of this extra work, preparing the lighting for the Orchesis show took two full days, as opposed to the “30 seconds” that it would take to service each light on a catwalk. Also, there is no orchestra pit, so the first few rows of seats have to be sacrificed to make room for them. Along with that, the crew doesn’t have a large storage room for
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p ELECTRICITY IN THE AIR : Tech crew members (Back row: Nick Fowler, Tony Alberico. Front row: Matt Erbach, Mike Lipinski, Jackie Surleta, Hannah Trezise, Mike Mariani and Melissa Sztuk) pose in front of “The Electric Man” set they created. They’re responsible for set creation, lights and helping to make sure the shows run smoothly. (Photo by Tim Angerame)
props, as they store them in the theaters crew finds harder to build structures wings, or in the prop shop, an unused on than a completely flat surface. For classroom where space is critical. Tak- example, set plans may look great on ing apart and storing the props makes blueprints, but may have to be changed the tech crew lose time to prepare for drastically to work with the floor, acthe next show. cording to Colon. “This auditorium The tech crew wasn’t really meant for has considered fund theater productions, raising to give the musicals or really even theater a well dedance shows,” Colon served makeover, said. but since the costs Another problem tech would be astronomicrew has to deal with is cal, they would just that the aging theater is like to upgrade the -”The Electric Man” director falling into disrepair. lights and sound The seats are falling systems for now. John Meyers Jr. on tech crew apart, as yellow caution Other schools tape lines a few seats in in the district have the front row. The main stage’s wood upgraded to LED lighting, while acfloor is also starting to rot, making cording to junior Mike Lipinski, Prosbumps, waves and hills that the tech pect is using a light board from around 1997, which, although basic, would cost around $10,000. Despite the obstacles the auditorium poses, the tech crew usually pushes forward and does whatever is needed to get the job done. Meyers said the crew had built the most amazing set that he has ever seen. Junior Jacob Molli, who plays Nikola Tesla’s brother, Daniel, even says “It’s sad because we get the recognition, but [those] guys ... the work [they] do is amazing.”
“They are the unsung heroes of any production.”