(Left) Ella Scott, sophomore theatre major from Jonesboro, Arkansas and Claire Abernathy, professor of theatre and costume designer for 9 to 5, work together to get a costume just right before dress rehersals take place.
During the last weekend of February, Arkansas State Theatre will be putting on “9 to 5,” a movie turned musical about three women who take charge of their workplace from their misogynistic boss.
However, while the actors are on stage performing the songs and acting out the scenes, there are major parts moving behind the scenes by the tech crew. From sound, lighting, set design and stage managers, the tech crew makes sure the actors look and sound good.
Jeff McLaughlin, the scenic designer and technical director for all A-State Theatre productions, said he and the other members of the design team start planning everything months before rehearsals even start.
“We’ll kind of talk about what our goals are for the show and how we want to achieve those goals,” McLaughlin said.
The process for designing the set starts with reading the script and seeing how they want to tell the story. This includes whether they want to tell the story realistically or use creative ways when creating the world of the play.
For “9 to 5,” the production team went the creative route, serving both the story in the script and the story the director wants to tell.
“We’re not doing a realistic representation,” McLaughlin said. “We’re playing around with the idea of all of the characters as they gain more autonomy, they have more vibrancy in their life. So we’re gonna go from a gray scale to fully saturated colors. I wanted to play with rigidity, uniformity, and find ways to soften it.”
(Left) Jarrett Robinett, instructor of music industry, begins teaching Olivia Stewart, senior music industry major from Batesville, Arkansas how to operate the sound board.
Olin Hahn, a junior theatre major from Jonesboro and Olivia Stewart, a senior music industry major from Batesville, Arkansas, are both the audio technicians for the show. Hahn’s job will be to trigger the sound effects as they occur in the show and to mic the actors when they arrive. Stewart’s main responsibility is the audience experience.
“Operating the board, muting and unmuting people as they come on, listening to Olin because he’s the one in contact with the stage managers. I’m mainly just focused on how everything is sounding and balancing everything,” Stewart said.
Rehearsals for the tech crew haven’t started yet as they’re still working hard on putting the set together, both on stage and in the scene shop.
“I really enjoyed scenic painting for this show. Like, I had a project in the shop where I painted the copier out of wood, I built a bed that was pretty cool,” Stewart said. “I like seeing it all come together.”
While the stage and the show are coming together, McLaughlin said that they had to make some tough decisions about their priorities due to the week they lost from the snow storm.
“We still have to put up the show. We have an opening date, we have a deadline, and since we weren’t allowed to work, we’ve really had to lock in and kind of make some choices about what our priorities are,” McLaughlin said. “There are probably things that were going to happen that we’re just not going to be able to do.”
Fernanda Posadas, senior theatre major from Sherwood, Arkansas helps get set pieces ready by painting a desk that will be seen on stage.
Students behind the scenes are getting to work closely with people who are experienced in their job. From sound, lights, choreographer, director, students are trusted to help and be part of the process.
Ella Scott, a sophomore theatre major from Jonesboro, is one of those people. She’s the assistant choreographer for the show and gets to see what all truly goes into the choreography process.
“I took several of Brianna (Larson)’s dance classes. She approached me about it and asked if I would be interested,” Scott said.
Scott said she has learned that a lot more goes into it than just being given the moves and running with them. She said trial and error is a big part.
Skylar Hilderbrand, a sophomore theatre major from Jonesboro, is the stage manager for the show. It’s her first time stage managing for both a musical and a college show.
While she stage-managed some plays in high school, she said college is a different challenge.
“In college, they trust you a bit more. So I am the first point of contact for all of the cast, mostly of the crew, and if anything goes wrong, I am the person that informs everybody about that. And of course, I think it’s more of getting people ready for that real world stage manager role,” Hilderbrand said.
Completed set pieces for the show waiting to be put in their rightful spots.
During both rehearsal and the show itself, the stage manager’s job is to know when things happen and where they happen and who it happens to so having a sheet and assistant stage managers (ASMs) to help the stage manager with those cues, makes everything look and sound nice at the right times.
“I have my ASMs just help me say on a who, what, where sheet like, where stuff goes. When is it going to be on stage?” Hilderbrand said. “I will check over that it’s all in an Excel sheet. So it’s just going to happen and it’s getting developed as we go on.”
Being a stage manager, Hilderbrand said she has learned it’s okay to be the leader in the room and that people will listen if you’re nice to them, even being one of the youngest in the room.
“My predecessors have already commanded that authority being in a stage manager role, so they know when they go into this that I am the person that they should be talking to and listening to,” Hilderbrand said.
The stage manager said that there is a clear schedule for each rehearsal, starting at 6, getting blocking worked out, a five-minute break every 55 minutes and choreography at eight.
“9 to 5” opens Feb. 26 and runs until March 1 with shows Thursday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Categories: Arts & Entertainment
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