Tech Crew shines backstage

December 14, 2009 • Blaine Piering  
Filed under Features

Lights flickered on and off. Left. Right. Center. A single dancer danced the Macarena. Sophomore Miranda McKenzie, who had just walked into the auditorium, stared at the stage where a strobe light and other stage lights flickered to the beat of the music. Smiling, she grabbed her friend Jasmine Shannon’s hand and joined in the dance on the stage. The music played louder and the lights beat faster.

This was nothing out of the ordinary just the tech crew of RHS’s drama department enjoying themselves on the set of Romeo and Juliet. The often unnoticed crew builds the sets of all plays performed.  They are responsible for its set up and creation. 

“Basically Mr.Tijerina comes up with the idea and sketches it and Mrs. DuPree then gives us the dimensions for it and the tools and material we’ll need,” sophomore Miranda McKenzie said.

The work is often very laborious as with At Pages End, which required thousands of books to be placed on stage by hand.

“I had originally planned to be an actress, but things didn’t work out,” McKenzie said,  “and a few of my friends like Jasmine Shannon, Kara, Jessica, and Mary Traxler convinced  me to try crew. I think I fit in better with the people, besides I think I’ve got more man power.”

Miranda’s future plans may very well be taking what she’s learned from the theatre department into the working world.

“I wanna stick with this through out high school and possibly do it as a career,” McKenzie said, “and not necessarily for a theatre or anything, but like for movies and music videos stuff like that.”