Not all the theatrical magic that happens before an audience during a Westover drama production is due solely to the performances of the talented and hard-working cast members.

A good portion of that magic is also offered by the Drama Program’s equally talented and hard-working Technical Theatre crew.

That is where the work of Technical Director Ian Diedrich and the student “techies” is in evidence, both off stage — literally and metaphorically — during the performance and long before the show opens.

The Technical Theatre course, taught by Ian in conjunction with each of the three drama productions assembled during the school year, offers students “invaluable hands-on experience in theatre production,” as noted in the course’s description in the School’s Curriculum Guide. “Students will learn how to use Westover’s state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems and create sets, costumes, and props.” By completing the course, interested students can continue to pursue opportunities in technical theatre, including serving as future productions’ stage managers and student directors. A number of the Drama Program’s techies go on to work on productions in college and beyond.

But, for the past year, the pandemic has affected how Westover’s Drama programs have been presented, given the limitations in place for performances before live audiences.

On Friday, March 5, for example, Westover’s drama students will present a Zoom performance of an original musical revue, Now Us, featuring 16 songs with music and lyrics created by students, connected by brief monologues and scenes.

But even though this show and the two previous Drama productions are virtual offerings, all of them still drew on the contributions and inventiveness of Ian and his Technical Theatre crew.

For Now Us, Ian noted, Drama Director Marla Truini and the revue’s Musical Directors and Arrangers Lauren Tian and Oswaldo Machado “came to us with what is, in essence, a concept album performance. Our challenge, as techies and problem solvers, was to make it work.”

Using the Drama Program’s technology and GarageBand software, Ian and the tech crew members Jade-Noelle Samuelsen ’22, Ruth Nolen ’22, and Thea West ’23 are working with the performers to record their original songs using the School’s Handbell Room as a recording studio. In this instance, Ian added, the production “doesn’t require a huge crew,” just a few students with experience working on sound design for a show.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the tech crew haven’t had other things to do this winter.

Ian has put the stage crew to work on the permanent installation of one of the Technical Theatre’s most ambitious and beloved set pieces — a “Flower Power era” school bus constructed for the fall 2019 musical Godspell — in its new home: the Arcade entrance lobby to the Louise B. Dillingham Performing Arts Center.

“The School was kind enough to let us install it in the lobby,” Ian said. “It’s become our signature piece for the Technical Theatre program.” The original bus is now being transformed in an appropriately dramatic fashion. When completed, Ian noted, “it will look as if it is bursting through the wall of the building. We wanted to make a statement for what we can do. We want to make it look as authentic as possible.”

Helping to construct the original bus for Godspell was one of the first experiences that Thea West had when she joined the show’s tech crew as a freshman that fall. Though Thea had performed on stage in middle school, when she came to Westover she was drawn to the tech crew. “My family has a woodshop, so I had built things before, but by working on tech I got to do it more consistently. While I had used a drill and a saw before, tech gave me a chance to get good at it.” She also learned how to use other kinds of materials and develop new skills — such as how to cut and melt foam pieces into the rounded parts of the bus’s chassis.

While Ian and his tech crew were proud of the original Godspell bus, he noted that they had faced time constraints to get it completed for opening night. So Ian, Thea, and the other techies are excited to have the chance to make the bus even more spectacular as a set piece — adding lighting and other details to demonstrate their skills as technical artists and fabricators.

Ian noted that Corinne Kadri ’22 — a member of the tech crew this season, even though she is working online from her home out-of-state — has been very instrumental in the bus installation. Through her online research, Corinne found a way of manipulating rubber to create a broken glass effect, which will give the illusion that the bus has crashed through part of the lobby’s plate-glass wall. She’s also designing a hood ornament for the bus that will be created using the School’s 3D printer.

When future visitors come into the lobby and see the tech students’ handiwork, Ian said, “we want to inspire them, to show them what we can do. We’re not always taking a bow, but this is a chance for our students to do so and to have their work recognized.”

“The really cool thing,” Ian added, “is that the students themselves are going to get a chance to come back after they have graduated and see it. There’s a matter of pride that it will still be there on display. I want them to appreciate the respect they receive for the work that they do. These students definitely deserve it.”

Last fall, Ian recalled, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was scheduled to be performed outside in the School’s Quad for a complex production that would balance scenes featuring live cast members interspersed with video recordings of other cast members filmed in other states and other countries. 

“Essentially,” Ian said, “we were taking the theatre and moving it out to the Quad.” He and his student crew worked on a sound and lighting design to work in an outdoor setting — complete with the construction of a large, elaborate full moon that would have hung high above the cast, as well as the setting up of projection screens that would allow the students performing on video to be integrated into the production.

“We really worked hard all fall and it was going to be operational for the night of the show,” Ian recalled. Unfortunately, just before the show was scheduled to be performed, pandemic conditions forced the production to be transformed into a completely video presentation.

Although they were disappointed that the production in the Quad did not take place, Ian and his crew were still proud of the work they had put into it throughout the fall.

“I got a chance to do a lot more on that production,” Thea said. “I learned more about lighting and sound, which was really interesting.” During a long rehearsal a few days before the scheduled show, Thea recalled, she mastered her cues for running the sound board for the production. “We would have been able to do it, if we didn’t have to cancel the live production,” she added.

“When you are putting a production together,” Ian added, “it doesn’t feel as if it is ever going to come to fruition. But when it all comes together, and the students look at the set with all the lighting and sound added to it, the students step back and realize ‘Whoa, what did we just do?’ It’s rewarding, not just for me, but for the crew as well. There’s a real sense of accomplishment that you get when you walk away and know what you have helped create.”

Now in his 10th year in Westover’s Technical Theatre program, Ian said that over the years he has seen students taking on more and more responsibilities and gaining more skills in every aspect of the production.

“The students take their responsibilities seriously because they truly want to do it,” he said.

The students who have been in the program gain more experience — like First Tech Head Natalie Brown ’21 — they themselves take on the role of teaching skills to newer students.

“You can definitely see the progression in a student over a number of years as they gain experience,” Ian said, “and they look to gain new skills and take on greater responsibility in a production. You see them grow, and that’s always awesome.”