Have you ever wondered what a TC show was like from backstage?
Alexandra McArver
It is chaos, but it is not profit killing chaos. Every T.C. production tends to look like a mess until the day of the opening night, but it can feel like a religious experience once you get through the first show. This year’s production of Medea was shaping up to be no different as the crew entered “hell week,” which is the week before opening night. The week is full of moving parts between tech people working on sets; costume designers with arms full of clothes searching for a cast member; and the cast trying to memorize lines.
The lead character, Medea, was played by two students, senior Teddie Ruschell and junior Ema Winkler. The two alternated playing Medea every performance and whenever they were not playing Medea, they played a smaller role as a nurse. Both girls were extremely supportive to everyone in the cast, but especially to one another.
“It is kind of an emotional rollercoaster and I had to memorize like the fifth Harry Potter book worth of lines, but I’m having a lot of fun,” said Winkler.
“I love Ema, she’s able to be really emotional on stage, which is something that has always scared me, so she’s helped me a lot,” said Ruschell.
Along with the cast, there was the crew who built the set, and during the show, they kept the props and costumes where they needed to be and took off furniture when the stage lights went off. , “You get to know the cast and the crew better by doing it, and it was a really fun experience. I learned more about building sets and the technical side of shows,” said Sophomore Casey Jackson, a member of the running crew.
Specific crew members were also in charge of lighting and sound for the show, like Mamaati Mulahi-Jones who was in charge of microphones. “It has been a really fun learning experience [to work on the soundboard],” said Mulahi-Jones.
Normally T.C. drama teacher Hope Bachman is in charge of the technical side of shows, but this year she took center stage as the director of the play and allowed Senior Malcolm Eckel to take the title of Crew Chief. He was in charge of directing the other crew members when Bachman was working with the cast, but Bachman was able to focus on both the cast and the crew thanks to help from her student director, Jaedyn Little.
