Students lead backstage efforts at Temple
By Jim Hanna
Staff Reporter
The audience files contentedly
out of the Howell Theatre, another
thought-provoking University of
Nebraska-Lincoln theater produc
tion under its belts and meaty,
searching questions on its lips.
“I wonder how they learn all of
those lines?” one aficionado may
ask.
“Didn’t that one guy look like
Uncle Carl?" another curious viewer
may query.
Lost in the shuffle to praise or
pan the acting in a play, however,
are the technical elements of thea
ter that give actors a place to act, a
light to act in and some stuff to act
with.
In other words, who does the
set, the lighting and the props?
For that answer, just, ask the
army of student workers that la
bors in and around the Temple
Building’ssceneshop. Drawn from
the endless supply of students taking
Theatre 112, Introduction to The
atre, these workers contract to do a
minimum of 20 hours of technical
work during the semester as part of
their course requirements.
To make sure they get it ail right,
, ' ii i ■ ■'»M i'iumin " '
these students are led by, well,
other students. Graduate students
in technical theatre (yes, you can
get a master’s degree in technical
theatre) are given assistantships to
coordinate the activities or the
undergraduates: die partially sighted
leading the blind.
"If I work a minimum of 20
hours a week, they’ll help me pay
for school,” said Mike Matthews, a
master’s candidate in scene design.
This “help” comes in the form of
a tuition waver and a monthly sti
pend. Three assislantship positions
are offered in scene shop-related
activities: one for props, one for
lighting and one for set construc
tion.
Chip Mahlman, a graduate scene
designer in his final year at UNL,
has found himself working in all
three areas during his tenure.
“I’ve done 'em all,” he said, not
unhappily.
This year, Mahlman has found
an assistantship outside of the scene
shop but still related to the techni
cal aspect of theater.
“This year, I am the sound de
signer. It’s a real trip, Jimmy,” he
said, getting personal.
Since the graduate students swap
assistantships each year, a partial
lar siuuciu can caj..h.,iicmt any cm
the different areas involved and
receive a more fully rounded knowl
edge of technical theatre.
“There’s art involved, there’s metal
shop, there’s wood shop — all the
courses that little wimps like you
probably weren’t too good at in
high school,” Mahlman said, get
ting even more personal. "Except
maybe the art thing.”
In his first year at UNL, Rick
Goetz, a Master of Fine Arts stu
dent, found himself scrambling for
needed experience and so was
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Backstage
Continued from Page 9
It’s a big accomplishment for them,
and I think for most people it’s
going to be a big help. Sometime,
they’ll be glad they did it.”
Most students are surprised how
much they enjoy the work they do,
he said.
“It’s kind of like playtime,” Schroe
der said.
Rick Goetz, a first-year Master of
Fine Arts student, agrees.
“I think it (working on the sets)
is a lot of fun, or at least it should
be," he said. “It’s a small enough
program, you have a chance to do
designs before getting into the real
world.”
Ed “EZ” Zastera, a fifth-year senior
in theatre arts enjoys the experi
ence he’s gaining.
you get to experience a ioi or
things as an undergraduate, and
you’re not pushed out of the way,"
he said. “If you ask. they let you do
it.”
Schroeder will have much less
work for his crew this holiday sea
son.
In past years at this time, his
crew would be setting up for “A
Christmas Carol." But since the
production is being performed in
the Lied Center for Performing Arts
this year, a group in Omaha is
handling the construction.
“We’re going to have to put to
gether something someone else
built," Schroeder said.
The costume and prop depart
ments will still be handling all the
costumes and props.
April Block is an unclassified
graduate student working in the
prop shop. She got involved with
the Temple Building through her
work last summer in the Nebraska
Repertory Theatre.
“It’s practical experience,” she
said “You don’t just learn about it,
you do it."
“I’ve seen that theater is hard
work . . . it’s not a cinch, it’s not
glamorous,” Block said. “The thing
that you learn the most in technical
theatre is resourcefulness — to make
something out of nothing."
Block said making props is the
most thankless job. Sne said the
audience never thinks that the couch
it’s seeing took weeks to find and
required some serious begging to
acquire.
Part of being resourceful, Block
said, was never ruling out any
place where a prop might be found.
The attic of Temple is the stor
age place for all the old props. It’s
full of classics like the bloody child
from "Macbeth” and a real dentist’s
chair used in “Little Shop of Hor
rors.”
Block said one of the hardest
things is to coordinate all depart
ments.
“If one area’s lacking, it will be
very obvious.”
That includes the costume de
partment.
The costume room of the thea
ter is literally abuzz. The sewing
machines hum steadily in the back
ground, while seamstresses and
tailors discuss the fashions of Dick
ens’ time.
1 he room is cluttered with dum
mies, patterns and bolls of clothing
for the 110 outfits the costume de
partment must make for the pro
duction “A Christmas Carol.”
Jeanne Long, a general studies
sophomore and work-study stu
dent in the costume shop, said she
enjoys “watching things from the
very beginning."
“I like starting with a fabric and
seeing it develop into a garment
and then seeing it on stage when
it’s done," she said.
On one wall of the costume
room, there is a sign that reads,
“ People that believe the dead never
come back to life should be here at
quitting time."
The sign is probably meant to
refer to the workers, but when you
enter the storage room for old cos
tumes, it’s easy to imagine them
coming to life on their own and
reenacting the parts they were cre
ated to play.
There are rows upon rows of
wonderful costumes. Cyrano de
Bergerac could once again sing his
sonnets to his lovely Roxanne in
his short skirt and tight tights. Around
the corner is a poodle skirt and
leather jacket just waiting til night
falls to rock and roll again
There are boxes of hats and
gloves, shelves of caps and crowns,
racks of bells and ties and an entire
wall of shoes in every color —
including a pair of glass slippers
1 DIPPING IS FOR DIPS. ^ I
I DON'T USE SNUFF OR CHEWING TOBACCO Tsoaer?- *