The Mount Vernon tech crew is a long-standing MVHS tradition. There are a multitude of things to do within the tech crew. People in tech do more than just work on the musicals. They help with concerts, auditorium rentals and community events.
There are many positions available for people in tech crew such as spots, lights and sound. To secure these positions, one must shadow and learn how everything works. Some tasks like spots do not take as long to learn. Others, like lighting, are complicated and take a lot of time to master.
Listening is one of the most important rules for tech, as even if one is in a high position, they still have to listen to a superior. Tech crew is a very collaborative after school activity where everyone needs to work with each other.
In tech, in order to have a leadership position, one has to first learn the basics and then later be promoted.
Abby Wheatley, junior, talked about her position and how she got it. She stated, “My position in tech is the lights manager. How I got my position was by first learning what I wanted to do, which was lights. Then I worked with my old senior, Colin, to be able to learn it, and because of my knowledge of lights, I’ve been able to become the lights manager.”
No one in tech can get into an authoritative position without starting from the bottom. Everyone starts from the bottom, no matter who they are. One has to constantly show up and prove they are responsible enough to hold a leadership position. When one is learning the basics they might run a concert with supervision.
People who are disrespectful, mean and bring a lot of drama get kicked out. Everyone in tech gets three strikes before they get kicked out. The director will pull people aside and tell them if they got a strike and for what.
To get a strike, one would have to be disrespectful, be rude, break things, swear or show PDA. These are pretty simple rules and are typically the same through most after school activities.
There is a lot of painting that is done in tech. Sometimes it takes a while to paint portions of the set. For example, painting menus might take two hours and get done within one tech day, while painting small details on a building might take seven hours and take multiple tech days. Other times it is fast. There are a lot of different kinds of things to paint, from the walls of buildings for interior scenes, all the way to small menus that only show up in one scene.
Unlike the cast side of things, the tech crew does not end when the musical finishes. Tech crew is all year, and if a person is really good and helpful, they might be able to help with the summer musicals and rentals. MV allows outside companies to rent the auditorium, which is what the tech crew calls rentals.
Normal tech is usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes on Saturdays. On Tuesday and Thursday, tech is normally from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. On Saturday, it depends on the day how long it runs. If it starts before 12:00 pm and goes after, the directors will provide food. However, rentals can happen on any day.
Some rentals that have already happened this year are Miss Indiana Beauty Pageant and The Nutcracker and many more. Sometimes rentals come back each year. For instance, “The Nutcracker” comes to Mt. Vernon High School annually to perform.
The tech crew also helps with each choir’s concerts and any assembly in the auditorium. They also annually do the Holiday Spectacular, which is performed by the Mt. Vernon choir and band.
To join the tech crew, all one needs to do is wait until either the beginning of the year or the start of a new semester. The directors send out an email with a Google Form link. One has to fill it out, and then the directors select a date to have a one-on-one meeting with each applicant. They will then wait a couple of weeks, and they will either get told they were accepted or not. If the person is a freshman, then they have a lower chance of getting in, only because they are new to the high school and have not really built their record. Usually, only two to three freshmen are accepted, and most students join as sophomores.