The curtains rise on “High School Musical,” revealing the set that the tech theater classes spent weeks designing. From assembling platforms and staircases to painting walls and backdrops, the students have worked to transform sketches into a full-scale stage production.
Under the direction of teacher Aaron Johnson, students began with smaller builds before taking on more complex structures. The “High School Musical” set required them to design and construct stairs, platforms, and painted walls that aligned with the choreography and tone of the play.
“Mr. Johnson works with [the theater cast] to figure out what they want to do and what the design should be,” sophomore Jack Collins said. “Then he just transfers it over to us and tells us what to do.”
Teamwork became integral as construction moved from classroom sketches to the stage itself, with real building occurring as the performance dates approached.
“We’ve been putting up the platforms right now and putting it all together on the stage,” sophomore Mirabel Bailey said. “I’ve been helping with putting up the walls and doors.”
The classes emphasize learning technical and practical skills like woodwork, painting, and construction. They were given lessons on how to use different hardware tools.
“When we’re building the set, learning what screws to use for what wood and how to cut the wood with different saws has been really helpful,” sophomore Jett Fruge said. “It’s cool seeing how every small piece we work on ends up being part of the production.”
Along with the tech theater classes, students could sign up outside of school to do tech solely for “High School Musical.” They could sign up just to build or stage manage, help with costumes, or manage lights. Students could come in on Saturdays to help build sets.
“I wanted to get to know how to use the power tools better and learn how to build,” senior Hudson Moore said. “Mr. Johnson has had it really organized, and [the class] flows amazingly.”
From coordinating painting schedules to measuring each piece of wood, students worked under guided timelines to finish the set before rehearsals began.
“We have timeliness with how we have to get stuff done,” Moore said. “We have to stay on schedule.”
For sophomore Ethan Fox, the collaborative aspect of tech theater has been the most engaging part of the semester. His favorite project so far has been constructing the set’s multi-level staircase.
“I decided to take it because it’s like a fun class,” Fox said. “We get to learn building skills, and it’s a lot of teamwork too. There was a lot of jigsaw work, and I think that was my favorite part so far.”
As performance week approached, students said that seeing their creations come alive on stage made every hour in the workshop worth it.
“At the beginning of the year, [Mr. Johnson] had to give us instructions and show us how to use the tools,” Collins said. “But once we learned it, we can go on and build everything.”
Several students plan to continue in the class next year to expand their skills and take on new productions. For the rest of the year, students will work on sets for “The Canterville Ghost,” the winter play, the One Act Play, and “Into the Woods Jr.”
“There’s a lot of teamwork involved,” Fox said. “It’s a good skill to be able to build things and know the foundation in general.”
