The Real Magic of Theater: Techweek

Bright lights hit the stage, revealing students dressed in fancy clothes, beginning to tell over a 90-minute story.  What the audience sees will look well put together, but the time leading up to the performances can sometimes be anything but that

The week before a production is known by the Spotlight Players – or any acting troupe – as techweek, short for technical week, and without it their shows wouldn’t be nearly as good as they turn out to be.

For the actors this is the time they really need to make sure all their lines are down and they know exactly where they need to be on the stage. Having techweek is a really good way for the cast to get a sense of how the actual show is going to feel.

“I was a little nervous going into tech week,” said senior Molly Ligon, “knowing that we had a short amount of time to have a great product for the show. However, I think it was really productive and the show definitely improved so much in the week we had before the show”.

Even though for the most part techweek was pretty good, there were obviously some little bumps along the way, and one major one:

“It was so different than others because the set wasn’t done by the time techweek started,” said senior Gina Gagliano.

On the backstage parts of the show, all the different departments have to make sure they know exactly when and where they need to do, and what they need to do to help bring the show more to life. Unlike past years, crew came in a week earlier for full rehearsals to make final decisions and tweaks on props, lighting, sound, and costumes.

Stage manager and senior Kayla Golebieski explains, “Starting techweek a little earlier allowed us to get things done that would have otherwise cost us rehearsal time during the week of the show.”

Without techweek all the important things backstage that help complete the show wouldn’t be nearly as organized as they normally are.