by G M Burkart

Created on: July 04, 2008

An honest review of the enduring themes in theatre lists the tensions between those onstage and those offstage: the 'techies'. Although the size of the technical crew may vary from production to production, in modern theatre they are just as necessary and a constant present as the actors themselves. The nature of technical work means that it is either invisible to the rest of the crew, or only visible when something goes wrong.

Without a doubt, actors dedicate an enormous amount of time, energy, and creativity towards a production. Auditions, rehearsals, memorizing lines, costume fittings, props actions, blocking actions, and determining a character's very essence are all incredibly demanding tasks. So where was the tech crew all this time? If you happen to be in a large enough show, or simply have an production manager with serious scheduling skills, you may not notice the technical crew at work until near the dress rehearsals.

As with the director and stage manager, the rest of the creative staff has been hard at work. The various departments have their designers, coordinating on lights, sound, set, properties, costuming, and any other special departments required by the show. Although they ARE a Creative Team, most of these areas will also require at least a minimum of left-brain logic to achieve the works of imagination. Set diagrams don't scale themselves, and neither do the lights mix their gel colors or set their beam angles without some decent forethought. The more meticulous the designer, the less extra work required for the tech crews.

And of course, we now come to the work of the crews. Once the designs are drafted and distributed to the crews, its time to pick up the tools and start living in the theatre. A good lighting crew, for example, can hang and pre-focus over 100 lighting instruments in a matter of hours. The focus and then the setting of the cues may take a full day or more depending on the complexity of the show... and the quality of communication between the designer and the director.

The set crew, of course, are tasked with building structures that not only look great, but also must fit quite specific dimensions with various functional details. Building with considerations of the running crew, who must move set pieces in near-blackout conditions in a limited timespan during shows, requires more forethought than kludging together a solid immovable block of wood. Most importantly, the onus is on the set designer and the set crew to build safely:

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