Student Blog: A Tech Week at Lindenwood University

As theatre students, we all know what the organized chaos of tech week is like, organizing backstage, getting the perfect timing on set changes, full dress rehearsals, and more. The main stage production at Lindenwood University this fall was On The Razzle by Tom Stoppard, which I was a part of the deck crew for. A play that may have a familiar-sounding plot, a grocery store owner named Zangler has plans to marry Madame Knorr, who lives in Vienna and owns a clothing shop. Zangler leaves his clerks, Weinberl and Christopher, in charge of his store, but they decide to also go to Vienna. This show actually was the inspiration for The Matchmaker by playwright Thornton Wilder which was then the inspiration for the classic musical Hello Dolly!.

Tech week is always an exciting, chaotic, and even stressful time, but it always seems to come together in the end. The process of putting on the show included two days of "spacing," which is seeing how we are able to move set pieces and even adding some small changes to blocking, etc. Next, we had Cue to Cue for the rest of the week, where lighting and stage management work together to get all of the cues running smoothly. That Saturday, we had a 10 out of 12 dress rehearsal, which was a long day, but worth it to get to show on its feet. Full dress rehearsals started on Monday, October 24th through the 26th because opening night was on the 27th. The show ran smoothly, and the audience for each show seemed to really enjoy it.

Sure, tech week can seem hectic, but in the end, everyone involved creates something that we all should be proud of, to tell a story. For the director, actors, and stage management working hard on a show for several months to only perform it three to four times (in an academic setting) can be bittersweet. But, as theatre students, we do this because we love telling stories through this artistic medium called theatre.