Before/Behind the Show

Jing Low

On May 10th, the RLT drama set-up crew travelled to PenangPAC, bringing all of the necessary props and prepared to record more than 100 light cues.

Early in the morning of May 10th, the crew started transferring props from Mr. Sasse’s old room (Room 28) in the rain. Soon, they departed for PenangPAC, the performance venue for the RLT show coming up on May 12th. Once the props and equipment were moved onto the backstage, the responsibility of the tech crew and the stage manager diverged. The tech crew began unpacking the wireless microphones and connecting their receivers to the soundboard using thick MIDI cables. Meanwhile, the stage manager continued to organize the props into the scenes which they were used. After the PenangPAC technicians finished rigging and focusing the lights, the tech crew moved into programming the 115 light cues required for each show; and the completion of light cues concluded the work of the day at around 6:30 pm.

"Although the lights are just the background during the show, we spend about 8-9 hours just setting the 'background' of the show. It is really long and tedious," said Alice Chang (10), who was responsible for running light cues for the performance.

But the work did not end there for both the tech crew and the stage manager. As the rehearsal began on the next day, more adjustments on the lighting and sound cues were found to be needed. Corrupted sound files fixed. Face lights added. Confusions on timing resolved. Nevertheless, the pressure remained high in the tech team on the show days, not only due to the unpredictable microphone behaviors but also because of the possible careless mistakes on pressing buttons.

“We were so done,” commented Khai Yi Khor (12), the sound technician, as she recalled the tiring—but rewarding—setup day and the tension she experienced in waiting for her cues.

Despite such stress during the performance week, the results of the effort were fruitful for both the entire cast and crew of the show RLT Players: A Collection of Our Best. On May 12th, another setup crew, which consists of half of the same members as the previous crew, met once again for the preparation of the RLT Musical on May 17th, the last drama production in the Fine Arts Festival of 2017.