As the curtain came down at the end of Hawthorne High School’s theater production, Guys and Dolls, the audience applauded for the actors as they took their bows. Then… a gang of students dressed all in black ran across the stage for their bows. Who are those people? What were they doing backstage? Let me introduce to you: the crew.

The four sections of the crew are all very important to a successful school production: sound, lighting, costumes, and stage or general crew. In Guys and Dolls, the manager for sound was sophomore Lauren Rivera. She was in charge of bringing up the sound on the stage mics and the actors’ mics. This job can be quite difficult due to the fact that there are more than 20 knobs and switches on the control board.

Lighting in this production was managed by junior Jacqueline Kabrel and sophomore Kaitlyn Melendez. These two were in command of seven lights directed from the balcony and they also can adjust the lights on stage and on the side.

Costumes were managed by a great group of students under the direction of Hannah Hallquist and Lara Bookholt. Costume department consists of pre-show costume set up, hair, makeup, and occasional props. The costume department make a backstage experience as enjoyable as possible.

Last but not least is the largest section of crew members: Stage crew. Managed by Eric Chrisitelli, Cassandra Rivera, Kaitlyn Maggiore, and Allison Curtin, this group of about 25 students handles set construction, lobby decor, set movement on and off stage, and practically anything else that needs to be tended to.

When asked about the value of the crew, Mrs. Hackett replied: “There is no show without the crew.  Actors would be acting on a bare, dark stage; actors would have no costumes;  actors would have to scramble to find their own props; actors and directors would have to do it all, and that would NOT create the same experience on stage. The crew is the foundation of the show. They put in tireless hours of work to prepare so much of what is used DURING the show. The crew is the framework around the beautiful picture….SO necessary to the completion of the whole package. We love the crew; we appreciate all of the work that they do on every production. The crew is given the distinct honor of coming out LAST for the curtain call because here at HHS, we value our crew so much and want them to know it!”

Besides what you see on stage, there is always another bigger back story.