Senior Alayna Gschwind has loved the stage crew every single minute that she’s done it. Although she’s only done it for a year, she is so thankful for the time that she got to spend with the people around her, and wouldn’t trade it for anything else. Now that it’s over, she wishes she could’ve done it for longer than she did.

“I’m sad [that I’m done with the stage crew],” Alayna said. “I wish I had done it sooner, and I wish that I could’ve gotten to know people even better than I already do because it’s a big part of me now.”

One of her favorite parts of doing crew is getting to know and meeting new people. Because of the people Alayna has met over the last year, she has managed to make countless memories of the stage crew. The memory that sticks out the most was one of the shows at the last play, The Curious Savage.

“I really enjoyed getting to know everyone and making a ton of funny memories,” Alayna explained. “The first [memory] that comes to mind is the cake that I brought into school during one of the shows. Five minutes before the bows, someone smashed my face in the cake, so I had to run to the bathroom and clean it off before we had to go do the bows.”

Alayna feels extremely lucky to have done stage crew because she wouldn’t have done it without the student director Alex Smith and her cousin Emma Raisch. She was thinking about doing the school musical during the second semester of her junior year, so she asked them if they thought stage crew was an appropriate option. They both highly recommended it because of how much fun it was and because of how much they enjoyed it.

Another thing Alayna loves about doing stage crew is that she can act however she wants to without being judged. When she did stage crew, she felt like she could truly be herself and nobody would think she was weird or judge her because they all act the same way as her.

“I like being able to do stuff with people and I like the hard work aspect,” Alayna described. “I like doing things and I like being helpful. I love helping out the director and cast, and I love being able to hang out with them.”

Alayna says she is going to miss the stage crew more than anything, and she wouldn’t have done anything differently, except maybe start the stage crew a little sooner. She doesn’t regret doing it, and she loved doing all of the hard work that she was able to do. Alayna said she is going to miss running around backstage, painting and moving sets, and moving props around. 

Her advice that she has for the people that are in stage crew or the upcoming people that are going to join is don’t just stand around and do what you want. Work with your team around you and listen to what they have to say. If the director asks you to do something then you should drop whatever you’re doing and do what you’re asked to do. Another thing she thinks you should do is look for things to do instead of needing to be asked. Look for things that you think you need to do.

“I would highly recommend doing stage crew,” Alayna commented. “It has been the time of my life, and I would not trade it out for anything. I cried so much at closing night because it is so fun, and I’m going to miss it so much.”