When it comes to a new theater production, many audience members focus on the show’s dialogue and the actors who will be performing, but it takes many more people to run a production from start to finish. Grossmont Theatre Department’s upcoming performance of the celebrated play Our Town is no different, and behind the scenes, crew members and technicians have worked for weeks to create the backdrop of this classic story.
In theater, “technical crew” often refers to the non-performers involved in the production of a show, including set designers, stagehands and flymen, and sound and light operators. These positions allow students who are passionate about theater arts to be deeply involved in shows, without necessarily performing on stage.
To offer some context, Our Town focuses on the townspeople of Grover’s Corners, a fictional small town in New Hampshire. The story unfolds from 1901 to 1913, focusing on the lives of various characters within. As one might expect, the setting of a play is central to developing a production’s “look.” James Padiernos, who is working as a set designer and scenic technician for the play, spoke on how the show’s time period and geographical location influenced set design.
“As far as my research went, I looked specifically at the New England area around the turn of the century, and found that a very popular build style was the Queen Anne,” he said. “I was very excited to hear that because it’s a very extravagant way of building, with a lot of different colors, textures and shapes as well.”
Even the seasons of certain scenes will influence technical decisions, as explained by Riley Casey, who is working on lighting and sound design for Our Town. Casey mentioned choosing a “very light yellow” as a main color to show an outside, summer feel.
One of the challenges involved with lighting is creating dimension, which Casey said can be achieved with the use of “gobos,” steel templates of various designs placed in front of lights to project a certain visual shape or dimension, such as a window. This technique was utilized to reinforce story elements of Our Town, such as the growing romance between characters George and Emily.
Casey said, “The moon plays such a huge role in Emily and George’s story, and we have a very beautiful and striking moon gobo.”
Both Casey and Padiernos pointed to director Walter Allen Bennet as a guiding force in the production. When speaking on meeting the challenge of understanding the director’s vision for Our Town, Padiernos praised Bennett’s willingness to communicate with the student technicians, with the common goal of finding what works. Casey commented, “He also, throughout the process, has brought up some pretty crazy ideas, and it has challenged us to come up with solutions and think in new and out-of-the-box ways.”
As opening night draws closer, one can see that it takes a village to make Our Town.
