Although many are captivated by the charm of the high school musical productions put on every December by the CRLS Visual and Performing Arts department, few are aware of the effort it takes to put on a show. Now that the winter musical has come to an end for this season, it’s only fair to pay tribute to the endeavor that is Tech Week.
For actors, most of each night is taken up by performance notes, getting into costumes, mic checks, dancing, and singing. However, techies have a wide variety of tasks that need to be done, depending on their interests and the requirements of the production. These include lighting, mics, fly rail, spotlight, run crew, costume crew, and props, all of which contribute to the show in different but important ways.
The Student Technical Director of this year’s production of Head over Heels, Lillian Michael ’24, told the Register Forum, “I like knowing things that other people don’t know, a very small amount of people in the world know how to do what we do, and that really makes [tech] so special.” Being behind the scenes, and doing the work that the audience can’t see is what makes live theater so unique.
Despite the rewards, staying late for a week straight with multiple responsibilities every night, and the uncertainty of whether or not those responsibilities will be fulfilled does take a toll on the average person. With little time for homework and lack of sleep, the added responsibilities of tech week are demanding. “In one word, I would describe tech week as chaotic,” said Roz Patterson ’26, a techie. “Chaotic not just physically, but also mentally. It’s weird walking down the hallway knowing you have 50 other things you need to do,” she said. However, Zaida ’25 expressed that it doesn’t seem to diminish the experience whatsoever. “It was the most stressful week of my life, but I don’t regret it for a second.”
Beyond the technical aspect of Tech Week, a sense of community is formed over the months leading up to it. “There is a lot of communication that needs to happen, we have to work together on everything, and then at the end, you get to come together and put on this big performance with everyone,” said Leila Poor ’26, a member of tech since freshman year. Simply put, there is no way around hard work, but what better way than with people sharing a common goal? As this year’s stage manager, Anna Kotowicz ’23 told the Register Forum, “What makes tech and tech week so special is that it’s a very underappreciated art, and all of the people that are a part of it recognize that.”
Overall, Tech Week is a rollercoaster, but the result of hard work and long hours is much more than an average high school production. It’s an experience and a community of people who come together to create something memorable not only for the audience but for actors and techies alike.
