Tom Sawyer Sings Tech Weekend

The time has arrived!  It is Tech for both casts this weekend.  What that means is it’s time to add … costumes, props, lights, sound, projections and the actors can no longer call line!!
For some it will be like starting all over again.  There is a huge difference, for example, between someone saying blackout, which is when you enter, and you walking to your place  versus there being a blackout and you trying to get where you need to be.

Costumes themselves offer a whole new world.  Imagine the total freedom of pants and knitted fabric sans buttons, zippers or ties being replaced by slips (what are they?), tights and dresses that can’t just be pulled on over your head.  In addition you need to have your hair look like the period, and be out of your face!  Also your shoes/boots have no velcro! And if all of this isn’t stress enough … you have to learn how to Hang Up your costume!  You adults may be laughing, but many young actors find a lot if not all of this totally foreign.  So you see how much live theatre can teach?

It’s a 13 hour day for the Director and some staff members.  And an 8 1/2 hour day for cast and crew.  The general agenda for the day is: Arrive 1:00 PM and enter through the stage door, check your props, go up to the greenroom and sign in and join a cleaning crew, learn about your costumes and but on your first one, go to theatre and learn the curtain call.  All of these are first time events. Then you finally begin running Act One!  Next comes everyones favorite part of the day … we get to eat together, after we hang our costumes and get into our own clothes.  Following the meal the crews setup for act two, actors dress and we run the second act complete with the curtain call.  The final thing to do is go home and sleep!

A few of us then do this all over again the next day!  Yes it’s a lot of work, but it can be fun too and it’s mandatory.  Without Tech the show could never go on.  We sometimes think how pretty the set, lights, or costumes are, or how did they make that sound, or do that illusion, but generally we have no idea about all the thought, time and work that goes into making any of it happen.  The truth is that all the weeks the actors are rehearsing the designers, sewers, builders, painters and various technicians are also hard at work creating the ‘world’ of the play.

Tech rehearsal introduces the actor to their world, and allows them to experience a whole new way of life.  Not to mention what it is really like backstage!  The following are some thoughts from cast W and pictures of Cast W & O & Staff:

“Tech is always our longest rehearsal and a very busy day!  But it’s also one of my favorite days during each show because we finally get to see everything really come together for the first time!  It’s so much fun!”   Kierstin Foltz, 19

“I always love seeing the sets under stage lights for the first time.  The theatre becomes a magical place that is full of fascinating characters, and fabulous adventures.”  Michael Ney, 40ish

“It’s dark and different.  It’s very exciting and fun.”  Stella Wolf, 9

“I forgot my ABC’s!  I’ve never been in a show before so I found out that tech is fun.”  Audrey Johnson, 12

“Tech is a full day of fun, fashion, friends and fantastic characters.”  Scott Seitz, 55

“I thought my costumes were absolutely beautiful.  The costume people did an amazing job.”  Annabel Alford, 11

Tech is an amazing experience because it’s fun to see the skeleton of a performance.  It’s also fun to see our silly mistakes and instead of laughing at that person, your laugh with them.  Lydia Alvarnaz, 9