Lights, camera, action

The tech crew for the CFHS one-act play in 2017 was composed mostly of middle school students.

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Sam Hamann

Eric Hamann works the control booth during the one-act

Welcome to behind the scenes of the Cannon Falls High School 2016-2017 One Act play. Who controls lighting, sound, props, microphones, and making sure everyone is where they should be throughout performances? Eighth graders Conor Salmonson and Eric Hamann, and senior Abby VanZuilen go through every performance trying to make themselves unoticable so they can make the one act play a great experience for the audience.

Although all the jobs are essential, one of the most important aspects of tech in a play is the lighting, there’s the light board and then there’s spotlights. Salmonson works the lightboard in the one act play and they don’t have individual light boards. He acted  in plays and musicals before tech and 2017 was his first year. “I didn’t really decide, Eric kind of told me what to do, he said you should do one act, it’s so much better than acting.” The tech doesn’t carry their light board to each school they perform at.

One other important part of the behind the scenes is sound effects. When working with sound, make sure to hit the right button on the right cue. Just like eighth grader, Eric, does every performance of the one act play. “We control the sound booth with either mics or we have a sound cue list on someones phone or computer and we have it on a play system.”

The CFHS One-Act play cast and crew worked through December and January and took 4th place at the section contest.