Patrick Conaway and Michael Monaghan are reinventing the future of the Drama Club
ADAM DICKIE
When you think about ELHS’s Drama Club, it is easy to overlook the technical aspects and the effort that goes on behind the scenes; that is why the work that juniors Patrick Conaway and Michael Monaghan should be taking center stage.
Conaway and Monaghan have both used their free time with Digital Filmmaking teacher and former Drama Club director Mr. Place’s help as a technical advisor. In the classes leading up to the fall play, “Puffs,” they spent their time either in Mr. Place’s room or in the auditorium making final preparations.
Both students have been focusing on two main objectives: installing new tech within the auditorium and reorganizing the old costume closet behind the stage.
The booth has been the most recent area in the auditorium to receive the technical upgrades. Conaway and Monaghan were spending their time removing old analog sound boards with newer digital ones, making it easier to control the sound in the auditorium.
“I understand a lot more of the technical aspects, and it’s given me a better view as a cast member of what I can do to help the people running that stuff, ” Conaway said.
Installing the new soundboards has presented Conaway and Monaghan with a variety of challenges and an abundance of trial and error.
“There was a lot of trying to figure out where things are supposed to be so there’s a lot of plugs and ports that you don’t know where they go so you just have to pray you’ll find it eventually,” Monaghan said.
One of the biggest soundboard related issues happened during the “Puffs” performance, when the newly installed soundboard crashed during the Saturday performance. It took some quick thinking on both Conoway and Monaghan’s parts to keep the performance running as smoothly as possible, but it was due to the whole cast’s perseverance that “Puffs” was still a huge success.
“They have a history of using the equipment and they have an interest in using the equipment, so it was a nice fit because they can take what they’ve learned in Drama Club and we can use it in all kinds of events that go beyond Drama Club related events,” Mr. Place said.
While the soundboard upgrade drastically improves the entire auditorium, the Drama Club’s work in reorganizing their costume closet will have a perennial effect on the club for future members.
“On stage left, there is a costume closet upstairs and it was really disorganized when we came up as freshmen. We had no idea how much we had in there.” Conaway said.
The upperclassmen in the Drama Club in years prior didn’t leave the current members with much if any information about the costume closet before they left. Discovering that everything within the closet was property of the Drama Club was a huge breakthrough for them.
Cleaning up and reorganizing the costume closet will ensure that current and future members of the Drama Club have enough room for props and costumes for future productions.
To see some of the events that go beyond Drama Club, as Mr. Place put it, or for those who would like to support the Drama Club, make sure to see this year’s Extravaganza and the spring musical as they will be assisting during both of those events here at ELHS.
