The Tech Theatre classes have started the new year off by hunting for treasure while cleaning up the Moyer Theatre.
They have been hard at work, clearing out old storage areas, getting rid of antiquated equipment, and finding gems from decades past, while simultaneously preparing for the winter musical, A Chorus Line.
“We used A Chorus Line, because it doesn’t have much of a set, as an opportunity for us to use that time instead to clean out the theater to get it into a working position that makes sense for us,” Brandon McCoy, the Tech Theatre teacher, said.
This process, which started after winter break, has been ongoing since.
“We’re just finishing up now, so we’re starting to inventory everything. This is going to take another two weeks, probably,” senior Wyatt Morris said.
Tech Theatre has found equipment in varying conditions.
“It’s thrown out if we can responsibly throw it out and it is past its prime usage. We found a lot of lighting equipment that doesn’t integrate with our systems anymore. We found some sound boards that are non-digital, and we only have digital sound now, and so that was past the usage for us, but then we also found a lot of things that we didn’t know that we had that are going to be really beneficial to us,” McCoy said.
With all of the equipment, tech students have a say in what gets thrown and kept.
Yes, [we get a say], because we’re upperclassmen, we’ve been here a while. It depends on what area the item is, though, lighting and stuff that is out of my pay grade. But in terms of just random items we find and especially in the shop with tools and set pieces, I think I have more of a say in that stuff,” junior Blaise Wanner said.
While most of the equipment found has been in good condition, a lot of it is either outdated or is hard to reuse.
“The main priority for the pieces are if we can use them in another show, and if they aren’t hyper specific to the show [they were originally used for]. So for example, we did Frozen for YPTP (Young People’s Theatre Project), and we had wands, but we can’t use those wands for A Chorus Line, because chorus line doesn’t have wands,” Morris said.
This process has been fun for the tech students, who have found many old artifacts from past decades of Jesuit drama.
“My favorite stuff I found was this really old lighting control board. That was really cool, because it was from the 1970s when the Moyer didn’t even exist quite yet. Obviously, it can’t be used now, but it’s just really cool,” freshman Nolan Foster said.
Not everything found has been props or other tech equipment needed for shows.
“My favorite thing that we found would have to be this old ear piece that I got to take home because we don’t use them. It’s an old Samsung caller earbud used for calling, and it works fantastically as it was packaged brand new, and so I’ve been using that whenever I take calls now,” Wanner said.
A challenge has been figuring out what to do with whatever has been found, but moving everything and clearing up the spaces has proved to be a prominent challenge as well.
“Some of it’s heavy, or unwieldy, and just awkward to move around. It’s just a lot of moving stuff back and forth between dumpsters and staging areas where it originally was. So it was a physical challenge, but it wasn’t anything insanely difficult,” Foster said.
This process has been super helpful to the theatre department, who has still found a lot of usable and helpful items.
“That’s the benefit of this: we’re going through everything and we’re finding some really cool, useful items, and since we know that we have it, we’ll put it into use in our productions and in our events,” McCoy said.
Uncovering the secrets of the Moyer Theatre have brought to life the Jesuit drama of past decades. Morris reflects on how everything found proves Jesuit’s strength in the theatre department, and how everything has been made and used with care. Wanner sees the history of Jesuit drama, and how technology has grown and improved since the start of the department. McCoy remembers everything that has happened before his arrival.
“We went through a ton of paper products, programs and posters, and saw the trajectory of the program and all the wonderful things that Jeff and Elaine did here before I got here. It gives us a view of the kind of work that we want to continue on the legacy of,” he said.
Everything found has brought light to what this legendary department has been and gone through, highlighting its history and pointing toward its future.
