{"id":11469,"date":"2025-03-07T13:26:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T13:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=11469"},"modified":"2025-03-07T13:27:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T13:27:41","slug":"behind-the-magic-pippin-tech-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2025\/03\/behind-the-magic-pippin-tech-crew\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Magic: “Pippin” Tech Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editors\u2019 Note: Unless otherwise specified, all photo credits go to the author, Lily Saal<\/em><\/strong>
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Band members quietly fine-tune their instruments, while actors shake out their jitters from the wings, both preparing for the incoming glaring stage lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the lights, music, makeup, costumes, sound and set stands a passionate and skilled tech crew. Without them, the magic onstage would be impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s spring musical \u2013 \u201cPippin\u201d \u2013 follows a young prince, the titular character, searching for self-fulfillment. With disco music, a colorful set design and constant breaks in the fourth-wall, the musical is complete fun, never taking itself too seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The old Fieldston adage \u2013 \u201ccompletely student run\u201d \u2013 could not be more true in this year\u2019s show. The tech crew employs students at every step; adults act as overarching directives, but students do all the necessary hands-on work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clare Mottola, Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department, directs the show, and Benji Gellman (Form VI) and Charlotte Ellis (Form IV) serve as her assistant directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon Schneidman, the music director and band conductor, works with a band of professional artists and Fieldston students: Meredith Metz (Form IV), Margot Stone (Form VI) and Jack Zirin-Hyman (Form VI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love theater,\u201d said Stone, who began doing tech crew in sixth grade before moving onstage as a band member. \u201cI love starting a show I don\u2019t know much about, fully immersing myself in it, and by the end, knowing the words to every song.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah Shafran (\u201802) acts as technical director, overseeing Sam Harris (\u201819) and Leonel Mendoza, the show\u2019s lighting and sound directors, respectively. The tech trio works closely with the stage manager, Kol Riddle (Form VI).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Stage Manager Kol Riddle (Form VI) sitting in the lightbooth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOnce Hannah closes the [auditorium doors],\u201d said Harris, \u201cthe show is Kol\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris isn\u2019t exaggerating: of the show\u2019s 290 cues \u2013 from lighting to set shifts \u2013 Riddle calls every single one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riddle takes point from the sound booth (the balcony in the back of the auditorium), utilizing two assistant stage managers (ASMs) \u2013 Colombe Weinstein-Cambier (Form V) and Elliot Rubenstein (Form V). From there, the tech crew divides itself into jobs, covering different facets of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The costumes\/shift crew, made up of Ava Resnick (Form III), Jesse Gold (Form V) and Dov Schlanger (Form III), hunt through the school\u2019s cleverly named \u201ccostume closet\u201d for potential usable clothes, and move props\/set pieces onstage. In one tense change during the show, the shift crew must quickly carry seven wooden blocks down the exit stairs, across the hallway, past the shop, up the stairs and to the other side of the stage. This is known in the Fieldston Theatre Department as a \u201crunaround.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike typical theatrical productions, where shift crews wear all-black attire to remain \u201cunseen,\u201d Fieldston\u2019s wear costumes, camouflaging perfectly with the bright disco outfits of the actors. In fact, the whole tech crew dresses up, even the remote ones in the lighting booth. Gold said, \u201cIt makes me feel like even more part of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far up some rickety winding stairs, the lighting booth splits into two aspects: the lighting board and the spotlights. The board operators \u2013 Amelia Citron (Form VI), Mariela Alschuler (Form V) and Freya Matasar (Form V), alternate working the board, switching even during the performance. The spotlighters \u2013 Miranda Gluck (Form VI), Zeke Tesler (Form VI) and Leo Kanner (Form V), split up: two sit in the light booth, one in the sound booth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI find something new every time I\u2019m up here,” said Riddle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Spotlight in the light booth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is a tech crew tradition to write on the walls of the lighting booth; everything from scribbled names to a full \u201cOde to the lighting booth.\u201d Riddle, who pointed out signatures from 2011 and 1980 iterations of \u201cPippin,\u201d said, \u201cI find something new every time I\u2019m up here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To access the sound booth, located just below the light booth, techies must climb an arduous ladder, which they nimbly accomplish with notebooks, water bottles, headsets, etc. in their hands. Perry Garon (Form V) and Michael Georgiades (Form V) operate the soundboard, which means adjusting every single cast member\u2019s mic. As an actor enters and says a line, their mic volume increases, and as their moment on the stage dims, so does their mic\u2019s volume. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The sound board<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The body mics crew \u2013 Marley Scotkin (Form VI), Brianna Bailey (Form V), John Keithline (Form IV) and Jake Siegel (Form IV) \u2013 attach and remove all the mics from the actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tech crew\u2019s journey begins in late November, as actors receive their roles and the rehearsals begin. The crew builds sets, creates props, makes costumes and prepares for the cast. A week and a half before opening night \u2013 Wednesday, February 26, this year \u2013 the crew sees the full show for the first time. From there, tech has one week to put it all together. Harris, the crew\u2019s lighting director, said, \u201cIt\u2019s a joyride at best and an interesting rollercoaster at worst.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week before the show, the cast and crew work at school from 9-6 PM, a mega-weekend event, intended to master every line and every cue. On Thursday, the group performs select scenes for the entire Upper School community during assembly and hosts an open-dress rehearsal, the first day of real audiences. On Friday, the middle school sees a sneak peek, and in the evening \u2013 Opening Night!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, call time is 5 PM, meaning the cast and crew must be at the auditorium\/backstage. \u201cActors do whatever they want, but tech has a tradition,\u201d said Riddle. Pre-call time, the tech crew competes in \u201ctech-olympics,\u201d where they play silly games, a Mario Kart tournament and put on a techie performance (where they attempt to perform the show). \u201cIt\u2019s been a tradition for years,\u201d said Riddle. \u201cSince even before I was here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, the entire cast and crew play a kickball game before the show, and participate in \u201cStrike,\u201d where they deconstruct and clean up the entire set after the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A member of tech crew’s annotated script<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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As they settle into their positions, adjust their headsets, check their \u201ccomms,\u201d the crew steps into a well-oiled machine, nothing frantic, but everything sharp. To an untrained eye, their meticulous notes \u2013 stand by LQ31, Shift 11, etc. \u2013 seem like organized scribbles, but to the crew, it’s the glue holding the play together. They conduct their final checks: confirming prop placement, mic volume, spotlight position, then with the flip of a page, Riddle\u2019s voice echoes through dozens of headsets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpot one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editors\u2019 Note: Unless otherwise specified, all photo credits go to the author, Lily Saal Band members quietly fine-tune their instruments, while actors shake out their jitters from the wings, both preparing for the incoming glaring stage lights. Behind the lights, music, makeup, costumes, sound and set stands a passionate and skilled tech crew. Without them, the magic onstage would be impossible.  This year\u2019s spring musical \u2013 \u201cPippin\u201d \u2013 follows a young prince, the titular character,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":11470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[319,347,318,425],"tags":[],"coauthors":[429],"class_list":["post-11469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-community","category-news","category-spotlight"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-8.24.27-AM-e1741353914280.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11472,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469\/revisions\/11472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11469"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}