We Made it to Tech Week, Baby!
In which sets are assembled, mics are checked, and hairstyles spontaneously combust.
SHOW GIRL posts are for paid subscribers and will chronicle my experience performing in a local theater guild’s Fall 2024 production of The Music Man—my first foray into musical theater in over 30 years. Get the background here and here, and please consider upgrading your subscription to support my writing efforts.
“Did you hear that?” I ask BB. “Is that a train whistle?”
It’s the first time those of us in the ensemble are here to watch all the other scenes— and the “house lights” are off for the full effect.
“Is it raining?” someone else asks, a few scenes later; this time from behind the curtain where we’re waiting to go on for the next number. “I hear thunder…”
Suddenly, new sounds are being introduced beyond the piano. And scenery! We have scenery! Not just foldable, rollable sets that look like a train car, a living room, and two front porches, but giant backdrops that unroll to look like a library and the town square.
Tech Week has begun, folks! I feel like such a pro calling it that, but I finally get it. Beyond only dressing the part during these final rehearsals to ensure our hair buns don’t fall out during do-si-does and our dresses expand wide enough when we kick, the stage crew is also working hard to get things right behind the scenes. Mics are checked. Spotlights are positioned. Props are placed…and misplaced. Curtains are closed and…accidentally left upon. The show must—and will—go on!