The Tale of Macbeth

Backstage

The Macbeth production was a project that lasted almost one months. The production was divided in two stages. Rehearsals and the final production. Unlike the Lion & the Jewel, this was not a school production. It was meant to show for a whole week at the national theater. What appealed me in this project was the fact that this was not a school production, which meant that I could work with actual professional actors and this was a first for me. Although at first I had signed up to do backstage work just like in the Lion & the Jewel, over time, the director decided to give me a small non-speaker role in the play. Although it was out of my comfort zone, I decided to take up the challenge.

The backstage work involved taking care of the lighting and sound effect. My job was to take care of all the props and operating any backstage machines, like using the smoke machines in some scenes. Overall, I believe that I achieved the learning outcomes I had projected in my proposal form which are:

• Increase your awareness of your strengths and areas of growths. Since this was not the first time I was doing backstage work for a drama production, I knew what was to be done and the timing was very important. 
• Work collaboratively with others. Just like a team sport, a drama production is not something which is done by one person but by the efforts of a group of people. The people in the backstage are just as important as the actors acting on stage
• Show perseverance and commitment in your activities. Although this is one of the most common leaning outcome, it cannot be ignored. During the preparation of this project, we had to work late at night way over time, from 4pm even up to 10pm at night. There were moments when I felt like giving up, but all I had to think about was the final outcome of the project and that would keep me going, and the fact that it would give me community service.