What is it about theatre that makes one want to watch a show over and over? It's magic, pure magic. Chances are everyone has seen some type of show whether on a Broadway Stage, Community Theatre or school play. We love how the actors and actresses become someone else. The singing, dancing, and acting stir up a variety of emotions. However behind the scenes are some very important people that aren't given their due. Actors and actresses command the stage, demand attention, and reap the benefits through applause and standing ovations. Behind the scenes are….the others.
Stage Managers: These are the kids who sit next to me and keep me organized. They are willing to jump in at a moment's notice to fill in for a missing actor/actress. They take notes, follow along in the script, practically memorize each and every role, AND basically do whatever is asked of them. These kids need to recognized for their incredible organizational skills. They are intrigal to the actual production and smooth running of the play. Without stage managers complete chaos would reign and probably nothing would be accomplished in a timely manner. In the real world, they will be able to engineer teams of people and accomplish things quickly and efficiently.
Sound and tech: I so admire these kids. They remember where lights are placed, the light cues needed for each and every scene, when the spotlight comes on and, most importantly, off. They remember where props are to be placed and when they are to be taken off stage quickly and quietly. Manning the sound board and knowing when to cut the mikes takes a lot of concentration and good listening skills. The kids handle and manipulate literally thousands of dollars of equipment with some guidance from adult volunteers. They only meet a handful of times and are competent enough to independently work this expensive equipment during the show with hand signals from me. There is a lot of technology, observation, and concentration going on here that goes un-noticed. These are skills needed in the work force and go unsung many times in theatre.
Stage make-up: These kids work hard at learning how to apply make-up to someone else and consider shading, lights, and character. While we don't do the gory make-up, they do learn about time periods, age, gender, and even face paint for the younger students. They learn to look and examine their work to each individual person and adapt the color scheme they are using. They also create. Some of the best face make-up schemes in our productions have come from students' imaginations after researching (Researching? Yup, they research for stage make-up), and experimenting techniques with each other. This fosters creativity and we are lucky to have some students who excel in this. Real world value? The arts. Some of these kids look at the world differently and see things many of us don't. Their creativity needs to be awarded and valued even if they are hiding backstage.
Costumer and Set/Props: These jobs are mostly done by some wonderful adults who give up precious time to create costumes and sets. Looking good on stage matters and the costumer needs to be able to envision what will work with each actor/actress in combination with each scene. We are extremely lucky to have a wonderful costumer who gives time to our productions. Set/prop manager is occasionally a student with great artistic ability and can draw and paint a nice set for us. This is usually done with the assistance of the art teacher. This year we had another adult volunteer do both of the jobs. It is clearly a detail oriented job that requires one to look at the script and interpret what would work on stage. Again we are lucky to have these people.
The people above are the unsung heroes in my book. Some of the skills they obtain blow my mind and I am so fortunate to have these volunteers who make my job so much easier. Many times we value what we see on the surface, but if we take a closer look behind the curtain, we see that there are hidden skills that make life richer. Hopefully you just learned about those skills and will promote the value of them next time you see a production because in all truthfulness, they just made that cast look darn good!
Happy holidays
The Noisy Librarian
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