Technical Theatre is a great course for students who love theater, but don’t want to be an actor. Even if you are an actor, you can help out with tech, which is really useful if something on stage needs to be fixed.

When you join tech, you start to learn about the different parts of it. You’ll learn how to build sets and props, you’ll also learn how to manage lights and sound, and will get to practice doing all of those. Technical theater is really hands-on with things, most of the time you’ll have something to be doing. When asked about what she thinks about tech so far, Brandy Quach stated “It’s really good for people who can’t sit still and for people with ADHD.”

You can volunteer to do work during shows, like lights, sound or stage crew. You’ll get some actual experience with being backstage, and it’s a good way to get to know the actors and see the show for free as long as the set isn’t in the way. You can also help with costumes, whether it’s ironing clothes or helping with costume changes. You can be the prop master and make sure actors get their props and put them back where they need to be. If you do lights or sound, you’ll have to watch the show since you’ll need to pay attention for when your cue pops up.

If you take the class during the fall semester, you’ll have to do competition. You can choose to do any aspect of tech, or if you’re feeling up to it, then you can be on stage crew for the one-act play. It’s important to note that if you do the one-act, you will still have to do something individually. The difficulty of the one-act changes every year due to there being a different set design. When asked to compare this year’s play to last year’s play, Marissa stated, “It’s a lot more organized.”

Doing tech takes up a lot of your schedule for rehearsals and shows, and it can even take up class time if you’re doing school shows. The latest time rehearsals have lasted while I’ve been here is 10 pm, so you really need to make sure to have room in your schedule for that.