The Penn-Trafford stage crew helps keep plays and musicals orderly

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Students in stage crew painted boxes for “Bye Bye Birdie.”

     Stage crew is a way for students to get involved behind the scenes of performances. The Penn-Trafford Drama Guild has a variety of crews that run different aspects of the plays and musicals. They are currently helping prepare for the spring musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” which will be performed April 5-7 and 12-14.

     “Stage crew is so very important because the actors wouldn’t have any sets to stand on or any props to hold,” art teacher and Drama Guild sponsor Jen Haberberger stated. “They make everything happen, basically.”

   

Jen Haberberger made sure students were painting on the correct sides of the sets.

 As the name implies, the hair and makeup crew is in charge of doing the cast’s hair and makeup. The costume crew helps the actors with quick changes off stage. 

     The props crew creates the props that the cast uses on stage. Similarly, the painters and builders create the sets.

     The deck crew has a range of responsibilities. They move the curtains and sets up and down, control the lights and the microphones and overall help the performance move smoothly.

     Many students join multiple crews if the meeting times do not conflict with each other.

Abbie Punturi showed a sign she created, which says “Don’t Fly Away Birdie.”

     Cast rehearsals are four days a week, and Stage Crew currently comes to about two meetings a week. Once they get closer to the show, students are expected to be at every rehearsal, especially if they are on the crew that moves the sets.

     Theatrical Design is a class offered at P-T that involves script analysis, research, design processes, lighting, sound, costumes and prop design. Many students enrolled in this class are also a part of the Drama Guild or stage crew. If students in the Drama Guild want to be a part of on stage and backstage work, Theatrical Design is a way to incorporate the backstage aspect into their schedule.

Joe Lehman painted parts of the sets blue.

     Theatrical Design is typically the only class that is involved with the Drama Guild;last year, however, the sculpture classes helped with “The Little Mermaid.”

     “[The class] helps because we work on things during the school day and I can communicate what the expectations are, so when they have crew in the evening they know what needs to be done, so it’s beneficial in that way,” Haberberger mentioned. “We work on things during the school day that we maybe wouldn’t be able to get done in the evening.”

     If you are looking to get involved with backstage work, stage crew offers the opportunity at P-T.

     “You get a lot of different experiences from Stage Crew,” freshman stage manager Kahlan Furnier said. “You are still learning even if you have been doing it. Even I’m still learning from it.”