Dracula’s frightful stage design

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Jacob Mendoza

Tech theater class takes a break from working on stage set for Dracula.

Jacob Mendoza, Reporter

For some October is a time to be scared and that’s what the tech theater class is trying to achieve with the set for Dracula. Dark colored walls emphasize the frightening look of a mental ward that it is sure to chill audiences spine.

“I get the idea from the play and once I finish reading the play then I know how the stage will look by what it says. I also use my own ideas to make it feel more special,” Technical Theater teacher Martha Gutierrez said.

This stage set appears to be one of the best and one of the spookiest the tech class has built over the past two months. Even though the budget is low they still have a enough material to work with.  

“It’s going to look like the inside of a library, the whole play takes place in a sanitarium and the top floor is going to be the cells where all the crazy people live and the bottom is the library where the doctor meets with all the people and patients,” Gutierrez said.

One of the busiest and most important persons involved in set design and stage building is Student Technical Director Michael Saenz who works nonstop next to Gutierrez.

“I helped by making the coffin. I made the trap door in the stage floor, put up some of the walls, put up the support beams for the second floor and I made sure that the second floor was secure for the actors to walk on,” Saenz said.

Tickets are $5 a person and the play runs Nov. 3-5. The stage is memorable by design and detail the crew has put into building the set.

“This set is very different than the sets we have done in the past because it has two floors and should be the best one yet,” Saenz said.