Crew members prepare for upcoming musical

When junior Audrey Scalici was a freshman, she said she wanted to be involved in crew because she thought it was a good way to experience theater for the first time.

Scalici, now stage manager for the fall musical, said her job entails reading the script and making sure everyone knows when changes are made.

“When I am a stage manager, I usually go to rehearsals and I take notes in my script about blocking, so about where the actors stand, where they go,” Scalici said.  

Play director Jodi Hatzenbeller said anyone can become a crew member. 

“We usually take everybody who wants to be on crew,” Hatzenbeller said. “Anybody who is available to work the times we have crew calls we will take to work on various aspects of crew.”

Hatzenbeller said if someone wants to become a thespian, someone who submits forms showing they did 100 hours of work for theater, they are required to be on crew because it teaches students about all aspects of theater.

“It’s actually part of the national guidelines for being a thespian, so it’s important for everybody who’s a true theater person to experience both sides of theater,” Hatzenbeller said. “Being off stage and behind the scenes is important for the learning process.”

Scalici said the crew members work with technical director Don Romain on daily tasks to ensure success throughout the crew calls.

“We show up for crew calls and we work with Don Romain and do the project for the day,” Scalici said.  “We might build a bench, paint a bench, paint a wall, do something for the set that he has planned for that day.”

The musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” has performances Nov. 13-15 and 20-22 in the auditorium.