By Stella Hansen
If you know anything about or have seen the musicals at CIS before, you would know that they are not only extravagant but also clearly take a lot of effort to produce. As someone who has been taking part in the productions at CIS for three years now, I can confidently say that it’s not easy. We have 1- to 2-hour rehearsals three times a week, and occasional Saturday rehearsals from 8 am to 5 pm. As a performer, a great deal of energy, drive, and dedication is required to bring a performance to life. Now, imagine you go watch a production here at CIS, and the performers are in their school uniforms, the stage is empty, and they have no mics or spotlights. That’s right, you can’t! That’s because so much effort takes place behind the scenes that goes into making all this magic happen. From sets and props to costumes and makeup, there is so much more to musical theatre than just singing, acting, and dancing.
This year’s musical is The Wizard of Oz, a musical journey that explores the life of Dorothy Gale, who, when meeting new friends along the way, learns a lot about what to appreciate in life, like her friends and family at home in Kansas, because there truly is no place like home. A bit into Act 1, she lands in Munchkinland, which is a fantasy land with a yellow brick road, a witch in a bubble, and the little people that live in the city, Munchkins. All of this sounds fabulous, but it takes a lot of effort from the people behind the scenes to make this fantasy come to life!
So, I decided to interview some of your favorite teachers who help out with sets and props, lighting and sound, and costumes, to see what they are up to while the performers are working hard at rehearsal.
First, let’s hear from Bob Huang, who helps out as a Technical Manager for almost all school shows and presentations in addition to the phenomenal musical productions.
Q: What is your main job/role in the CIS productions?
A: I serve as the Technical Manager, where I advise on lighting, sound, set design, multimedia, and occasionally special effects. My role is to support the director’s vision and help transform ideas on paper into a full sensory experience on stage and wow the audience.
Q: When did you start working with sound and lights?
A: I began as a teenager in the early 1980s, volunteering as part of the technical crew for national-level concerts and events. That’s where I first discovered how much I enjoyed shaping atmosphere and emotion through light and sound.
Q: How long does it take to program these settings?
A: Lighting typically starts in pre-production, where I discuss with the director the mood and feel of each scene. Programming can take around 40 hours, as every cue has to be designed and tested to match the dramatic flow.
For sound, much of the planning happens during rehearsals. Microphone plots are drafted, adjusted, and refined through repeated tech runs. Sound effects are another layer—finding the right balance, imaging, and emotional response can take a couple of tech runs to perfect.
Multimedia adds yet another dimension. It involves sourcing or creating images and video clips that can be projected or mapped onto surfaces. Sometimes, we experiment with distortion—almost like Salvador Dalí’s surrealism—to evoke tension or symbolism. Since multimedia interacts with both light and shadow, we usually integrate it alongside lighting design during rehearsals.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you face within your role?
A: The biggest challenge is raising production quality within the limits of our resources, equipment, and venue. The David Foster Theatre was designed primarily for music performances rather than full-scale theatre productions, so we have to be inventive in adapting the space. My goal is always to give parents and audiences a seamless, professional theatre experience, even if it means holding my breath at those critical “tech moments” during the show!
Next, Liz Rossi, who, in addition to being a Visual Arts teacher here at CIS, works on sets and props for all of our school musicals.
Q: What is your main job/role in the CIS productions?
A: I work on the sets and props for the productions. This includes designing, building, and sourcing materials and items. I also organise and coordinate students to join the team, and work closely with teachers, the director, and the artistic director to bring the vision of the production to life.
Q: When did you start working on the sets and props for this year’s musical?
A: I began preparations last school year, as much of the planning and sourcing needs to be done well in advance.
Q: How often do you work on creating the sets and props?
A: Every day of every week in alllllll the weeks leading up to the show it becomes a daily effort… often including weekends. The work continues until the final performance, and even after, as we also handle the strike (taking down the sets, relocating props, and organizing materials for reuse etc…).
Q: How do you manage students and teachers who work on it? How is the load distributed and organized?
A: Most of the sets and props responsibilities fall on the Arts Department, with very little support from other staff, despite us asking for help. The artistic director meets regularly with the director, who provides vision boards and concepts. We then break down the production into different acts or scenes and assign areas of focus. This year, we selected students with stronger art backgrounds so they could take on more independent tasks, which has been very effective!!!
Q: How long have you been managing sets and props for CIS musicals?
A: I’ve been managing sets and props for CIS productions for over eight years! Minus Covid years, of course!
Q: What are the biggest challenges you face within your role?
A: The biggest challenges are balancing limited time and resources with the high expectations of the production. Budget allocation, sourcing materials, and the sheer scale of work required within a short timeline are constant pressures. On top of this, there is very little staff support outside the Arts Department, so the workload of sets and props falls almost entirely on us. (there are a few wonderful people that will chip in, and they are always so much appreciated.) The lack of wider help makes the role even more demanding and exhausting, and it also takes a toll on work-life balance since so much time, including evenings and weekends, is spent on the production.
Lastly, Lori Zhai, who is not only an ELL subject lead, but also works on our Costumes Team to ensure the actors are looking their sharpest on stage!
Q: What is your main job/role in the CIS productions?
A: I am on the Costume Team. My role, so far, has been ordering costumes for the larger groups, especially when they need to be matching or of a similar theme, like the Winkies and the Emerald City Citizens. I also organize students to come in and try on costumes. It’s very much a team effort. Other members of the costume team are better sewers than myself so they have been working on making costumes for Leads, like Glinda and the Lion.
Q: When do you start brainstorming costume ideas for the musical? Do you decide the costumes?
The director actually shares a Vision Board with us and tells us what she is looking for. Ms. Rodgers shared her vision with us in June. We don’t start brainstorming costumes until August. If we are confident that we have found a costume that fits the vision board, we go ahead with it. But often times we share our ideas with Ms. Rodgers to make sure we are moving in the right direction. Again, it’s a team effort, and we are constantly sharing ideas and building on these shared ideas.
Q: How do you organise and manage costume fittings and measurements?
A: We get the measurements as early as possible. We had most of the cast measurements within the first 2 weeks of school. Costume fittings can be a bit more challenging. We need to work around the rehearsal schedule. We try to use SMART time whenever we can, and we try to grab cast members after school during rehearsal, when they aren’t on stage.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you face within your role?
A: Time is always a challenge as this big production comes together in about 12 weeks. We also have a budget for the whole production, so we need to work together to allocate money to the different areas of the production. It’s a lot of teamwork that brings this great show to the stage in November!
After three years in musicals, I have developed such a strong sense of appreciation for those working hard behind the scenes. They put in just as many hours, if not more, as the performers to make all the shows come to life. After hearing from the interviewees, I have definitely learnt some stuff about what’s going on while I’m in the DFT three times a week rehearsing, and I hope you all have too! So, if you see any of these teachers or staff around school, just give them a quick thank you for all their hard work, because in addition to some of them being full-time teachers, they are putting in extra time outside of school and during free periods to contribute to the shows that our school enjoys the most!