There is lots going on in the play Calendar Girls, but while the audience is fixed on the action on stage, the backstage crew is busy making sure the play is unfolding smoothly.
Behind that big set is a row of costumes hanging on racks almost as long as the set is wide.
Then there is a long table filled with the small props that will come and go from the stage and space for the larger set pieces that move on and off stage between scenes.
Snacks are also available for the actors.
Then there are mirrors for adjusting hair and makeup and a couple of couches actors share to take a break when they are not on stage.
Up behind the seats, you may or may not notice two people sitting under blue lights managing sound and lighting boards.
In a tiny dark room to the side of the stage there are more props and a script lit only by a soft blue light which the stage manager and her helper follow to usher actors on and off stage and keep the flow of set changes running smoothly.
“It is very interesting, very busy but very fun at the same time,” says stage manager Kirsten Sandberg.
When the play was in the production phase Brenda Mears gathered props for the production, and during the production she is Sandberg’s stage managing helper.
Tanis Daum is both on stage and doing makeup for other actors before each production with her helper Jennifer McPhee.
Daum says she took a makeup course on line and now enjoys doing makeup for theatre, bridal parties and graduates, as well as special effect makeup for Halloween events.
“I play Elaine, who is a makeup artist who doesn’t actually know how to do makeup. She just fakes it,” Daum says of her comical role in the production which gets lots of laughs.
There are more than a dozen lead hands pulling the production together behind the scenes plus their helpers welcoming patrons as they arrive, looking after the snack bar, making costumes, looking after publicity, designing and building sets, designing lighting and sound, makeup, hair design, and directing.
All these jobs mean there is lots of opportunity to learn new skills and meet a great group of people who welcome newcomers to the world of community theatre.
In their Calendar Girls program this week is an invitation to join the club which outlines all the ways people can participate and learn new skills with this theatre club.
