Shadow Ridge theatre is currently in production of Alice in Wonderland, but it’s not just the actors who are hard at work. The tech crew is working hard to get the set ready for opening night, November 18th. Alice auditions took place back at the end of September, but the set began production during the first week of September.

Mrs. Hartley, the theatre teacher, is a professional technician. She has been staying 3 days a week after school to work on the set including Saturdays. Mike McMahan, also a professional technician who specializes in welding and sound, has been coming in on school days and weekends to help build the set as well.

Most of the set is built in pieces during theatre tech class, which is also why it takes a little longer to get built since there are only 45 minutes in a class period. Within the class, the students are in groups of around 5 and each group is assigned a set piece to build and paint. Every set piece for Alice has been built by a team.

Dominick Perez, senior, is a stage hand for the show. His job is to move set pieces on and off of the stage during the show. This is his 4th year being a theatre tech. “I like doing tech because we get to see the behind the scenes for shows and we get to build things,” Perez says.  “I am excited to be working on Alice because I will be helping all of the actors do their thing.”

Alice has some big set pieces, including the caterpillars mushroom, Cheshire’s tree, and the main pathway through the set.

Mikey Bracha, junior, is a sound operator on the set of the show. He makes sure that all of the actors mics are working and that they function for the show. “I’m excited to be working on Alice, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into the show for weeks now and I want it to do well,” Bracha says.

Alice in Wonderland opens next week and the tech crew are working harder than ever to get everything ready. Most of the set has been built and just needs to be painted now.

Alice in Wonderland runs from November 18th-20th at 7 pm. Tickets are $5.