Load-in! Monday, April 16th, 2007

Today is load-in on the Hoerner stage! For those who do not know, this is when the carpentry crew and others put all of the various pieces of the stage in place as it will look for the actual performance. They also were loading in the orchestra, including setting up stands, stand lights and other equipment for the musicians, in the pit.

By around early April, the carpentry crew was beginning to build various pieces of the set in a big room in the back of Dillingham where all of the carpentry equipment and materials are housed. What usually happens is that any IC student can sign up to get credit for some form of theatre production. All students who sign up are split into the various production postions such as sound, carpentry, paint, lighting, costumes, props, etc. Therefore the students who are in the carpentry crew work with Colin, the Technical Director, and a theatre production major who is concentrating in carpentry. The students get instructions on what to specifically do to actually build the set each day they have theatre production.

Since the sets are so big and there needs to be room for the actors to rehearse up until the show on the stage, it is decided ahead of time how the set will be split up in order to build it in smaller pieces first. Then during load-in, the same students work with Colin and the theatre production student to put it all together on the stage. As pieces of the set are built, the paint crew starts to paint them. So, for the most part, every piece of the set is finished before being put into place on stage during load-in.

I was on the paint crew for The Waiting Room and the carpentry crew for Yentl my freshman year (2003-2004). It was a lot of work, but exciting and so much fun!