by Jack Long

We have entered the final week of the spring musical. The Theatre Department is finalizing large portions of the musical that all BHS and BMS students will see this week on either Wednesday or Thursday. Though many of you will only see the actors and hear the orchestra, the most important part of any show are the multitude of people working behind the scenes.

They run back and forth across backstage, opening, closing, dropping-in curtains. They control the mics, the lights, and all of the stage entrances. The stage crew seems to be one of the most underappreciated aspects of shows. A crew member has to memorize just as much as the actors: light changes, actor entrances, curtain cues, and prop locations. A crew member has to keep time as if they were a musician, making sure that when the large purple curtain flies open, there isn’t a black-shirted person standing in the center of the stage doing final adjustment of the faux-walls.

So, when the stage crew comes out to take their well-deserved bows at the end of the show, thank them by clapping just as loud as you did for the actors.