Lights, camera, action! Yet who is really behind the lights, sound, and sets of high school musicals. The technical staff, often referred to as "techies," are responsible for amplifying the performer's actions on stage.
Herndon High School is known for its excellence in tech, especially with the installation of its new light and sound equipment.
Students wishing to get involved in technical theater have the opportunity to start as freshman. They are immediately plunged into hours of rehearsal and sleepless nights. Through a student-led apprentice system, underclassmen techs learn from their upperclassmen role models the "ins and outs" of stage lighting, sound and sets.
Oddly enough a student technician's final performances are not spent running the equipment they know and love. Instead they focus their time ensuring that the underclassmen acquire all of their skills, essentially working themselves out of job.
Every school has a "lead tech," "senior tech" or a "tech god." Herndon's 2003-2004 senior tech is Mike Mauren. Having spent his previous years rising through the ranks of student technicians, Mike now does his best to stand back and let his pupils show what they've learned. This attitude, typical among senior high school techs, is a sharp contrast to athletes and performers who squeeze every last moment of playing time they can in their final days of high school. The senior tech is always there to watch in case he's needed, but he knows his job is finished when he sees they can do it without him.