Tech Wizards

Most of the tech crew, freshmen, don’t know how the set will eventually turn out. Most of the tech crew don’t even know the story line of Matilda. Everyday they walk into class and receive instructions on what to do.

Despite not knowing the full story, tech students look forward to seeing their hard work on stage.

“I’ll be kind of proud to know I built something and did a part of something bigger,” freshman Carder Freeman said.

This pride is a shared feeling among the tech students, as they become very close to each other in the process of building this set.

“We get to work and we have a little bit of fun and also get our work done,” freshman Tyler Price said, “It’s kind of like a big family.”

Even though the tech crew doesn’t know what the set will look like, technical director Gabe Lohse designed all of it.

“Roald Dahl is all about weird proportions because he’s very whimsical and very childlike,” Mr. Lohse said.

Designing Matilda

Every fabric and accessory at Hobby Lobby is sifted.
The materials from the shop are “borrowed.”
No item in the costume closet is left without a glance.
When none of these work, the final resort is Amazon.
Design after design after design, every piece of fabric is meticulously adjusted — yet something still doesn’t look right.

From September to November, this is the life of design student, sophomore Lucy Brown.

With the musical around the corner, Lucy along with the design team are hard at work constructing costumes for Matilda.

“With the current costumes, we’re going for a trashy 80s, sort of comical Beavis and Butthead style with bright, gaudy, and tacky colors reminiscent of the 80s big, bold outfits and hair,” Lucy said.

The costumes the design class is primarily working on are for “Telly,” one of the dance numbers. The main singer Mr. Wormwood is an over-the-top, tacky idiot.

“We just really wanted to capture the essence of stupid but flashy, stupid but fun, like that one friend who you don’t know how they’re still alive,” Lucy said.

This is just one thing Lucy and her design team take into account when designing costumes. They have to consider the actors’ movement, the dialogue, the set, and the story.

“You really have to consider a lot of things, but it really helps with building imagination,” Lucy said.

But not everything comes from pure imagination. Lucy finds inspiration in other artists and their artwork. Her biggest inspiration, however, is the actors wearing the costumes.

“I can draw inspiration from anywhere across the world, but my one true inspiration is the people who play these characters, the people who make these characters real,” Lucy said. “As long as they get to express their character in the costumes that I make, then that’s all that matters to me.”