Story and photos by Betsy Branca ’31
The musical The Lion King Jr. usually takes several months to produce, and our middle school students have done it in less than two weeks. Work began on January 6 and the final production was performed on January 16. Over the course of Winter Term (a two week period where students express themselves with new and unique classes), MS students have been learning and doing technical design for a play in the class Techies – Producing a Show. The course is taught by Middle School Theatre Teacher Deb Mein. There have been many ways for the students to have fun, express themselves, and help their fellow students with their production.
In this class, students used their creativity skills to help the show come to life. The students have been helping out the costume crew with organizing their costumes by making labels for the hangers, which is super important so the show can run smoothly and everything can stay organized. They have also been building animal ‘heads’ for the actors. They are also responsible for making the makeup designs, lights, sound, and props for the play.
Mein was asked how the technical design program for the winter term shows improved and expanded over the years, and she answered, “In the past, there had been an Upper School Seldom Scene class where they helped do some things for the show ,but as the Winter Term musical and our technical design class has gotten bigger, I felt there was a need for something like this. The morning and afternoon class are serving different purposes for the show. The afternoon course is meant to build out and create the production crew, but they are also working to fill in the gaps of the morning class.”
When Ada Song ’30 was asked about what made her excited about her course, she answered, “I really wanted to be able to help out with the show and make the audience happy while being creative. I also love being a part of something bigger than myself because every small thing the crew does adds a lot to the show.”
Another one of the students in the class, Maddie Dimit ’31, was asked what she wants to take away from the course, and she answered, “I want to take away being able to make a show without having to be an actor, and I’m really happy to be doing all of the backstage work.”
All of the students in the technical design program for Winter Term have been working together by helping each other finish things and cover things that their classmates might not have been able to get to or finish. This course has a lot of collaboration involved in it, whether it is holding up a model so a classmate can hot glue something or having a conversation about what to work on next, all of the students in Techies – Producing a Show worked hard and collaborated to make the show as good as possible by making costumes, making makeup design and doing the makeup, and doing lights and sound.
Overall, the students in the class have been having fun, working hard, and making everlasting friendships and memories.