Audrie Pryor chose technical theatre as her senior project where she learned how to work lights, sound equipment, and build sets for theatrical performances. She helped set up lights, build sets like doors and platforms, and adjust sound levels for several school plays over the year. Some of the challenges she faced included painting sets to change colors between plays and learning how to operate the sound board. Her project facilitator was the drama teacher who helped guide her learning. Through this project, Audrie discovered she enjoys using her hands and building things but has decided technical theatre is not a career path for her. After high school, she plans to study sports medicine in college and help athletes as she has been helped.

1. Audrie Pryor
Ms. Tillery
4th period
Technical Theatre
We all use lights every day, we watch movies or plays, but many do not know how many
different ways we use lights or what goes into making a play. Hello my name is Audrie Pryor.
For my senior project, I have learned how to work with lights, sound, and build for theatrical
performances. I became interested in this at the end of last year. I went to a few of the plays and
found the things that I thought meant so little were actually a big part in the performance. Lights
set the mood, show the main points of the performance or the character that may be saying an
important line or showing the main character in the scene. It also changes the atmosphere of the
performance. The sound such as songs, someone singing, or the other sounds that help set the
atmosphere. Having a place to act/perform is an important aspect. A good start for that is
having a set that the actors and actress to perform on. It makes it easier for actors and actressto
perform and help the audience to understand the play.
My product was setting the lights, building a set, and adjusting the sound for many of the
plays that were performed over the year.I built doors, steps, platforms, and walls. I set the lights
according to the set and actor/actress. I adjusted the sound to accommodate the volume of the
singers and the music playing for the performances. I chose this project because it became very
interesting to me after I found out about all the different aspects of the performances. When my
friend told me about the technical theatre class at our school and told me how things worked it
caught my attention right away. It was a lot of hands on work which is something I love to do.

2. When I heard about getting to build the sets, paint, and work with a lot of the equipment I
wanted to get started right away. So once I started taking the class and learning about all the
things I got to do I thought it would be a perfect chance to learn something new and decided I
could do it for my senior project.
With my product it took a few easy and hard steps. In the beginning, I had to figure out
what I was going to use for my product and how I was going to show it. With theater many of
the parts cannot be moved, carried, or transferred to another location. While making the sets for
the performances I had to make them as easy as possible to move. So with the set for Harvey, I
had extra help from Herb Denny who has built many things for the school. We came up with the
idea of putting wheels on the bottom of any set pieces that needed to be moved. We bolted the
wheels to the bottom such as the doors, walls, and some of the platforms. I learned how to use
power tools and paint the set. I had to tape the sets off when I was painting because the sets were
sometimes different colors. With the sets being used over and over again it is sometimes hard to
cover up the color before. Painting over a dark color with a light color was very difficult.
Sometime, I had to apply three coats of the lighter color to cover up the dark color from before.
The painting took a long time because we had to wait for some of the colors to dry so we could
paint other parts on the same structure a different color. So I had to put three to four coats of
paint on the sets which then made it harder for me to change the color of the set for the next
performance. I helped build many of the set pieces for Harvey, Grease, and Toy Story. For
Harvey I helped build walls, doors, and a fire place. We used many of the set pieces for other
plays such as Toy Story. We painted the sets for Harvey a light color but when it came to Toy
Story I had to paint it a dark color.

3. With the Coffee Shop performances, I learned how to work the sound board, which was
one of the hardest thing for me to learn how to work. I had to learn how to adjust the volume
according to singer or song that was being played. The sound board had a lot more to it than the
light board. With the sound board you have to make sure the microphones are set up to the right
channel on the board. There were two Coffee Shop performances where I had to work the sound
board. You cannot program anything in the sound board which makes it hard to adjust in the
middle of the performances.
The light board was very easy to work with. You just have to turn it on and turn the
grand master up. You warm up all the lights before you use them and then you are set to go.
You can adjust them with the keys or you can use the keypad and type you the light number and
how high you want the light to be set to. While working for Grease, I had to move the lights
around to fit the set. So I then had to go up the cat walk, which is above the stage, to move the
lights to the position I want it and make it fit to the stage or the characters. I also helped build
some of the set pieces. I went to a few rehearsals to make sure I knew how the play was going to
go and to adjust and move the lights. With the lights that are not hooked on the cat walk, it is
very difficult to get to. I had to move a table under the light needed to be adjusted and then put a
ladder on the table. Having balance helps a lot because climbing to the top of the ladder while
on a table was very high and made the ladder shake. So if you are scared of heights, it would be
better for you not to work with the lights. You can program the lights according to the
performance. Programing the lights was a little difficult, but after I practiced it a few times it
became very easy. The first step to do this is to have your lights set where you want them. Then
you have to make a list of the light numbers you want to use so you can record them on the board
together at once. After you have programed them into the board as one cue, then when it comes

4. time for the performance you only have to push one button. You may want to practice while the
rehearsals are going on the make sure you have the timing down. I also learned how to set an
effect. An effect is another easy way to show the lights during a performance. You don’t have
to push any buttons you just set it to a cue and push the level up. Your lights will then just go
with how you set them. They will fade in and out according to how you set them.
My project facilitator was Matt Tamanini. He is the drama teacher at Creekview High
School. He has been a family friend since I first started high school. I chose him to be my
facilitator because he has been around the theater for a long time and he knows a lot about the
technical aspect. He let me do a lot of things on my own but if I had a question he was there to
answer it. He was busy a lot of the time so it was hard to get together between both of our
schedules, but we made time when we could and got a lot of work done when we got together. If
he could not answer my questions I would research it. My research paper helped me learn about
all the different types of lights, ways to use the lights, how to build certain set pieces, and how to
make the sound board easier to use. We did not have as many lights as I found in the research
process, but we had enough to do what I needed.
All in all, with my project I have learned a lot I never knew about myself, drama, lights,
building and much more. I have learned that I am a hands on learner and I love using my hands
to build. I like to get things done as fast as possible but still want them to be done the best they
can. However, I have decided that this is not a career choice for me. It was fun and I loved
working with the equipment and learning something new.
For my future plans I am attending Reinhardt University and will be playing softball for
them. I am going to major in Sports Medicine and help athletes like I have been helped. If any

5. of you would like to see a performance I have helped with the theater will be performing Grease
April 19-21 and 26-27 if you are interested. Tickets are ten dollars for adults and eight dollars
for students, seniors, and military members. Thank you for your time and at this time if you
have any questions I will try and answer them for you.