By Reena Dutt
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 11, 1997

Lurking in the dark:

Brian D. Rothschild Arizona Daily Wildcat Theater arts major Ky Lloyd prepares the stage for the UA graduate performance Arsenic and Old Lace. Check out our review of Arsenic on the web.

Lurking in the dark, they are watching every move. They make themselves seen before you get there, and disappear as soon as you reach. Even though you can't see them, they wait and watch, making sure everything is going as planned. They're not the FBI.

After watching our theater department put on the show, Arsenic and Old Lace in the Lab Theater in the Arts Complex, a thought occurred to me. Who creates this extravagant parallel reality? Who are the people that suddenly disappear as soon as the curtain rises? And I recalled old theater memories and memories of the "crew"

"Crew" is a general term for what can become a very specific duty. The three crews that deal directly with what the audience sees on the stage are the prop, costume and run crews. Being a film major, I must say that the mise-en-scene (setting the stage) is very important to a performance. Ky Lloyd, Props Crew Head, says the crew creates a "wall between set reality and reality of the present." In other words, they are giving the actors a new world to live in, for the time period of the performance.

As Props Crew Head, Ky and her crew members are responsible for placing props on stage before the performance and during the performance. Every once in a while, a prop gets misplaced during the run of a show. At that point, it becomes the Prop Crew's responsibility to put it where it belongs. Since Ky worked on the show through the summer, she said she pretty much knows what needs to be done for the performances that are going on through the end of September.

Another person who worked on the show this summer is Ned Krantz, Run Crew Head. Ned is responsible for the set, which includes the actual stage, and the furniture put on it. His duties include making sure the floors are clean and in good shape before each performance and during intermissions, if necessary. He also is responsible for any repairs that the set requires during the performance dates.

These are not the only two student positions for Arsenic and Old Lace's crew. Wardrobe is also run by students, three of them being Jennifer Klinger, Holly Jindrick and Phoebe Rosenberg-Jones. With additional help, they are all responsible for cleaning and repairing costumes, putting wigs on the actors, as well as dressing them and helping them with costume-items after the performances. Jennifer, Holly and Phoebe all agree that this is not an easy job, especially since they are learning on the job. Each show can require learning something new, so any show can become a learning-experience.

The crew seems to enjoy working on the show for the most part. When asked about the pros and cons of doing crew work, I got quite a bit of input. One of the second year students say that being part of a show is time consuming but rewarding. Another point of view included the idea that if being a part of a crew did not offer any credit, they wouldn't be working on the show, while others said crew work is another form of slave labor that the theater department puts their students through. A few of the first-time crew members mentioned that their experience as actors never lead them to the knowledge that being a crew member is a lot of work. Ken Madson adds, "Who knows when I'll need the experience?" According to some of the actors in the theater department, that is the mentality of someone who truly loves the theater.

No matter what the reason for participating on a crew may be, those working on the Arsenic and Old Lace set are doing an impressive job. The set is full of catchy spider-like motifs and others that you must see for yourself. The show is continues through Sept. 21.