Not a lot of people decide to join tech theater. Maybe because some believe it's boring or they’re afraid of the tools or it's just not for them, but mainly not a lot of people give it a chance. I’ve taken this class since middle school, and here’s what I've learned through my three years. From what we do in assemblies to Matt’s elusive talents, here’s six things you probably didn’t know about Rowland Hall’s Technical Theatre class.

• A majority of tech class is about discovery; I learn something new almost every time I walk into the Larimer. Did you know that there’s a ladder on the left side of the stage that leads to a platform? It contains the controls to the lights’ height and it also has empty paint cans on the floor responsible for the graffiti littering the walls. Not only is there a ladder on the left but also on the right leading to “The Castle.” Unfortunately it’s not as cool as it sounds, it just holds a lot of random planks of wood. Lastly, a place I learned about only last semester. When you enter the Larimer there is a ledge and behind it a wall, but is it really a wall? It’s actually a cupboard full of obscure props and stage structures, but that’s not all. The room is a long hallway underneath the chairs that connects to a curtain in Ms. Yoon’s room. 

• Our goal in tech is to make fiction come to life, which results in a lot of outlandish props that need to be made. In order to make these sorts of things, we sometimes need to do some research in order to figure out how to make these things actually work. For example, in the play Trap, Theo Billings, Rayne Weinstein, and I had to look up photos of eight-year-old boys who went missing in the 1800’s. We had to show about 13 different photos to Matt for him to approve that the boy looked “missing enough.” Another thing that was researched for Trap was how to make water glow in the dark. The man in charge of said research was our very own Duke O’Neil. The solution to this was tonic water and black lights; he had some issues, however. When asked how the process went, Duke said, “there’s not a lot of information online about making glowing IV bags. We had to go through a couple of prototypes to get the right thing.” As you can see, a lot of the research we do can be pretty weird and near impossible to make fiction a reality.  

• Besides building stuff for plays and whatnot, we also control a vast majority of the assemblies that happen. Each month we take turns being in charge of the lights, projections, music, sound, and setup. Each job is very important, and some are even controversial at times. For example, when you’re choosing the music, there’s a lot of pressure to choose the right songs. Projections are one of the most difficult of the options because you have to anticipate when to switch the slideshow; a lot of speakers are unpredictable, so you have to make sure to work around that. I think that assemblies are one of the best but also most stressful things we do here in tech. 

• We work with so many different power tools and materials that you could even consider this class to be like a workshop class. We don’t just build stuff for sets, we also do a lot for dance as well. We just got done building white frames for the upcoming dance event. We had to saw the wood ourselves, screw them together, get them on bases, and finally paint them all white. For last semester’s play, Trap, we had to create a false wall that covered the real wall of the Larimer. It was very large and complex to ensure that it would not fall. It took the entire class to put it up and get it all together. It took almost 3 weeks to get just the base up and a lot of screwing and cutting. We handle a lot of whatever happens in the Larimer and have to build a lot. 

• There’s a lot of crazy phrases in tech that can be a bit confusing unless you’ve been around for a while. An example of this could be “freshies.” You might be thinking, “oh that’s in reference to freshmen”; however, it actually relates to batteries. Whenever the batteries are dead, we put them in a bucket and then we receive freshies, which means a new battery. I have no clue why it's that term but sometimes you just gotta adapt. Another almost ineffable phrase is Matt’s most frequent phrase “over there.” Most of the time when we have to put something away or move something, we have to ask Matt where to put it. However, Matt is normally doing a lot for multiple students, so sometimes he just gestures to a spot and says “put it over there.” The theater is very big, so it can get confusing figuring out what he means by that, but he can also get frustrated if you don’t understand what he means, so a lot of tech theater includes trying to decipher what Matt is trying to say. Ask any techie about it and they will be sure to tell you the tales of Matt’s idea of directions. 

• A very important part of tech is making sure you stay safe. A lot of the things in the Larimer can be extremely dangerous if you're not careful. Communication is a huge part of theater to prevent people from getting hurt, and listening is also very important. As previously mentioned, the “Castle” is very dangerous. It has a railing that covers only about one third of the platform so that we can pass wood to the people below. This is where communication can play a big part, especially because someone could get hurt if you dropped the wood or if you fell off the edge. One of the most dangerous things I’ve done is hoist up the large false wall for the play this year. It took the entire class, and it almost fell on us. Matt ensures we stay safe by supervising whenever we handle dangerous power tools like saws that could cut up our hands in a matter of seconds. Matt says,“I always tell my students that the theater is always trying to kill or maim you. Of course I say this only half jokingly. So there are always safety concerns to be aware of.” “The theater is always trying to kill you” is a frequent in Matt’s lexicon and is a great point and something I always think about whenever I’m handling dangerous tools. Whether it’s ladder or saws, the number one priority in tech is safety.