The KSC Theatre Department will put on two shows during the fall semester, each of which requires around 50 people behind the scenes to help pull the shows together, many of those roles are filled by students.
One of those students is senior Lissa Saunders, who is the assistant technical director and lead electrician for both of the shows this semester, including productions of “After the Blast,” a play written by Zoe Kazan, and “Next to Normal,” a musical written by Brian Yorkey.
Describing her role in the production of “After the Blast,” Saunders said, “As Assistant Technical Director, I help oversee the construction of all of our scenery and set pieces. As lead electrician, I basically tell people where to hang each light and make sure it’s all running smoothly … I’ll also be programming the lights for the show, which I usually don’t do as lead electrician, but I’m doing it for this show because I was offered it and I felt like it would be good experience.”
Saunders said that she does an average of 12 to 16 hours of work on the show each week, which will eventually reach six hours of work every day in the final weeks before opening night.
Saunders stated time constraints were one of the main challenges that a theater tech faces, with only a little over a month being available for set building and rehearsal. “It’s kind of amazing that we’re able to get everything running smoothly in that time,” Saunders said.
Another student who is involved with this semester’s theater tech is Mackenzie Mann, a junior who is working on set design and props for the musical, “Next to Normal.”
Mann described her work with set design and props as working “hand in hand,” saying, “I started working on it early summer, analyzing the play and everything like that. Right now, I’m working on building the scale model for the set so we have an idea of what it would look like. For props, same thing, I just had to really analyze the play and see what everything should be looking like, what I need, and then as we get closer I need to put together rehearsal props for the actors to use until I have all of the finalized materials.”
Mann said that she really enjoys the creativity and the hands-on aspect of what she does.
“It’s so cool once you get to see it on the stage,” Mann said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I built that!’’
Craig Lindsay, technical director for theatre and dance at KSC, discussed the prominent role that students play in the creation and development of the theater productions. Alongside the student Assistant Technical Directors Saunders and junior Kai Carreiro, Lindsay said he leads a work study program, which employs around 20 students to work on the theater’s shows. Additionally, Lindsay says that he teaches students who make up the running crew and stage management team for the shows.
Lindsay talked about the importance of theater tech to the production as a whole, describing their work as being “in service to the production.”
“Everything I do is kind of a cocoon almost, to support the actors and the dancers,” Lindsay stated. “It’s a noble calling, in my mind, to want to do this.”
Show dates for “After the Blast” are Oct. 9 to 12. Show dates for “Next to Normal” are Nov. 20 to 23.
Director of “After the Blast” Tyler Keyes was not available for an interview.
Justin Dearborn can be reached at
