Behind every good production is a well-put together theater tech crew.

The theater tech department is also on the lookout for any creative, artistic people who are willing to help plan, make, and design sets and props.

Every prop, scene change, light movement, and more, is made by people in the Tech Crew. When it comes to the responsibilities someone could take on, there’s many options that could work to many people’s interests.

If you like lights and sound, working in the booth may be for you. From the booth, you get to see the stage while altering lights or sound. You may need to dim or move lights, change light color, or change light shape. If you control sound, you get to be in control of music and sound cues that are a necessity for the show.

To be in the Tech Crew, consider taking the tech theater classes taught by Mark Montgomery. You also can volunteer to work behind-the-scenes, but taking the classes will set you up to be involved in all the productions.

“We do a variety of things depending on what each show needs,” Montgomery said. “If you want to be involved but not be on stage, we have the avenue for you.

Tech theater students do everything from constructing stage props to running lights.

If handling the electrical part of the show isn’t really your thing, there’s also the manual parts of the shows. There’s a fly system, and there’s runners. With the fly system, your responsibility is to bring different curtains with different sets on and off stage. They are controlled by ropes, and are often pretty heavy. If you’re a runner, you are in charge of getting things on and off the stage.

Not everything is done during the show though. If any of these options are appealing to you, you can choose to take a one semester course called Tech Theater. In it, you learn how to do everything that is needed to put on a show.

Montgomery, is always on the lookout for anyone interested in these kinds of jobs. You can also reach out to Montgomery at his email, [email protected], to see when the Theater Tech department is in need of people.

Next time you see a show (possibly our Aladdin Jr musical this weekend), take some time to recognize all the behind the scenes work that comes with it.