By Elle Everett
Photo by Elle Everett
If you’ve ever seen one of Willow’s school musical or plays, you’ve probably wondered who makes the spectacular scenery and props. Or perhaps you’ve walked past a workshop off the quad and seen students building things and wondered what it was for.
This is not woodworking or shop class. This is Willow’s CA program in stagecraft working on everything that will go on stage for our high school plays.
Students in the CA start the process by sketching designs in their note books. Then they move to assembling large-scale structures. The actors are not the only stars in our school productions. Stagecraft students also play major roles in each of the productions, from making the sets, to moving them.
In fact, much of Willow’s theater magic starts behind the scenes in the stagecraft classroom. One of the most recent projects was making the Aubrey ll plant for Little Shop of Horrors. According to some of the students, building multiple versions and sizes of Aubrey ll required a lot of teamwork that they did not know they would need.
The students found they would need all hands on deck when moving the varying sizes of Aubrey ll around the back of the set with very little time to work. This called for problem solving skills and teamwork from everyone.
“In Little Shop, we had to take off one of the smaller versions of The Audrey ll plants and replace it with a bigger one,” Kennedy Miller, senior in Stagecraft 4, said. “This meant taking down an entire wall from the set, putting the big plant on, and putting the wall back together. This all had to happen in a small amount of time with limited space, and it was the main part of the set. We essentially had all hands on this at every moment. Each person in the crew was needed in one way or another working to make this transition.”
Some students are making compromises in order to be a part of stagecraft.
“My parents wanted me to do engineering, and I wanted to do art, so this made both of us happy!” Pearl Albritton, sophomore in Stagecraft 2, said.
For many of the students, stagecraft creates the hands-on experience needed for future careers. As they get closer to each performance, the class shifts to focus on the fine details in painting the set and props. But with this, everyone needs to stay on track, and no one can fall behind.
“Stagecraft isn’t just about building things,” Fern Arendt ,a Senior in Stagecraft 4, said. “It’s about learning how to work with different people, manage time, and trust everyone to do their part. If one team falls behind, the whole set is affected, so we really rely on each other.”
Mr. McCrea assigns students tasks based on their abilities and strengths, making the class more efficient as a whole. Larger groups focus on the big painting sets and the bigger pieces in each set, while smaller groups handle detailed work that brings the set to life. Many of the students say that, because of this, their class works more closely together as a whole, especially among the level 4’s.
“The favorite thing I made was definitely out of fully grown Audrey 2 for the musical, Little Shop of Horrors,” Stagecraft 4 senior Kennedy Miller said. “This was my favorite because my entire class worked on it together. We put this show on two years ago, when we were level 2s, meaning it was just us. It allowed us to be so close together and make memories that would have never happened.”
As Willow prepares for the next play or musical production, the stagecraft students of all levels will show their hardest efforts to help make it truly come to life. Long hours spent sketching, building, painting, and adding fine details will show the true efforts of these teams.
