The work put into gathering all the elements of a good theatrical production takes a lot of effort on the part of the cast and crew. However, when the production comes to stage, people sometimes forget about the effort on the crew’s part.
Among the different types of crews, the set crew is responsible behind the scenic background of a performance. The work required by this crew varies based upon what each performance needs.
For musicals, this crew works long hours to scheme and carry out the construction of the set. For plays, the load isn’t as much, but still demanding.
Junior Haley Damitz, the head of set crew for the upcoming PV production “A Wrinkle in Time”, has been involved with set since her freshman year. As the head of set crew, Damitz manages the whole process of developing the scenic background and collaborates with the technical director and the stage manager.
She believes working with the set crew throughout school has taught her a lot.
“A misconception with set is that it can be an easy job,” Damitz said. “It’s not. It takes a lot of effort on the member’s part to ensure everything is ready before the performances.”
“Set isn’t just blindly drilling pieces of wood and hammering nails,” sophomore Madeline Buddan added. “There are multiple aspects to what we do in this crew. The initial part of planning what to put together requires a lot of creativity from the crew, and other than that, we have to paint the materials we are working with and strictly follow our plan.”
Another misconception that Damitz believes some people think is that set crew consists of mostly males.
“It’s really not true that guys predominate the set crew, and it’s not true that all the work we do in set is a job for only guys,” Buddan said in agreement.
When asked about the crew’s timings, Damitz said the crew is flexible with individual schedules, but during the days leading up to the show, the crew requires some consistency everyday from its members.
