The sets and costumes behind Dos Pueblos High School’s plays and musicals are all the work of the play Production Crew, which is made up of the Carpentry Crew and the Costume Crew. The Carpentry Crew is responsible for designing, painting, building, and lighting the sets for plays. The Costume Crew designs and handmakes the majority of the costumes worn on set by the cast members.
Among the wide variety of jobs that are done backstage to prepare for shows, an important part of the Crew is set construction, which involves most of the members.
Cam Middleton (12), the DPHS theater company President and one of the Lead Carpenters, said they’ve been doing theater since they were young.
“I’ve always been associated with theater in general,” Middleton said. “When I found out about the Carpentry Crew, I was like, ‘Oh, I can do my favorite thing while also being artistic and expressing myself.’”
Audrey Garfield (11), who has been a Crew member since her freshman year, says joining Crew helped connect her to her passion.
“Crew has definitely helped me with learning how to use power tools and do simple things on the light board, things like that,” Garfield said. “But it also really connects with my love of engineering.”
Alix Hollingsworth (10) is involved in both stage management and Carpentry Crew. They described Crew as a “time vacuum” because of how much of their time it takes up.
“I’ve been working in theater since … fourth grade, and I decided that singing really loudly in front of people was not something that I enjoyed,” Hollingsworth said. “So, I decided to go more into the Crew aspect, which I’m happy about.”
Aside from production, Crew has been a way for members to socialize and make new friends. According to Middleton, Crew fosters an environment that allows people to build strong relationships with their peers as well as with their teachers.
“We work really closely with our Tech Director, and she knows all of us really well, … what we can handle, and what we can do,” Middleton said. “It’s a great place for community and learning, teamwork, and team building. And I feel like I’ve taken some of my leadership skills from Crew.”
The community aspect is an important part of Crew for Wilson Li (11). He said his friends convinced him to get into Crew and remain involved.
“Personally, I love meeting the people here,” Li said. “It’s been so much fun, and I’ve met so many people and made so many new friends and acquaintances. It’s really great.”
Apart from set construction, another key component of production is the process of making costumes.
Head Costumer Alexia Inda (12) said her experience with Costume Crew has been very helpful in teaching her skills for her day to day life.
“I knew the very basics of hand sewing [when I joined], and I was able to learn a lot,” Inda said. “[Crew] definitely introduced me to new hobbies. It got me into sewing, and fashion with different styles, and it’s given me new goals for the future … I’ve started sewing my own clothes, and I recently started making stuff from scratch.”
Both Carpentry and Costume teach Crew members the basics, meaning no prior knowledge or experience is required to join. According to Middleton, an average day at Crew is made up of receiving instruction from the Tech Director, with an occasional lesson on a certain tool, before then being sent off to work on a project with a group.
Crew meets Monday through Thursday right after school and ends around 5:45 p.m.. As it gets closer to show time, Crew tends to stay later into the night to prepare, utilizing Fridays to work on construction.
Middleton recalls that the “best memories” are made when they are working late in preparation for shows.
“Once the show gets really up and running, and during tech week, we will stay later, [until] 9 or 10, and that’s when shenanigans happen,” Middleton said. “Everyone’s very tired, and we just make the best memories. It’s just so much fun, and I love it. I’ve met some of my best friends, doing it.”
Hollingsworth said that they’re passionate about Crew because of the satisfaction that comes with seeing their work “come together.”
“At the end of the production, after everybody’s worked so long on it, for literally months, it’s really cool to see the production come together, and to be able to think, ‘Oh my god, I helped build that,’” Hollingsworth said.
