Sophomore Madison Marrs takes the position of stage manager for this year’s Masque and Gavel productions, after being chosen from applications the previous year.

“It was like a process where the stage manager at the time had a list of people who apply with an application to be a stage manager this year and I was basically one of the only people who wanted to be it,” Marrs said.

Rowen McLeod trained Marrs last year. She was taught stage terminology, lighting, sound cues, and how to take props and sets on and off stage.

“A stage manager makes sure that everything is in tact. They make sure that the crew is ready to take things on and off stage, that the lights are ready to go on or off, that sound is ready for their cues, making sure actors are ready to go on and making sure nothing falls apart,” Marrs said.

Being a stage manager is a lot more work than people might think it is.

“People really just assume that you are just there and just sit there, but really it’s a lot of work and it’s really stressful. Everyone’s eyes are always on you and you have to make sure that everything is okay and not going wrong,” Marrs said.

Timothy Cornwell, the Theatre and Theater Tech teacher, has know Marrs for a year. Cornwell has watched Marrs work hard in his Theater Tech class and also in Stage Crew.

“Seeing her grow, I can tell she’s shy and it’s hard, in high school, to tell other people – your peers – what to do because generally that’s not well accepted. I think she’s grown in that she’s okay with being assertive. You see her really mature and be braver about how she has to approach things and how she has to be more organized,” Cornwell said.

With putting on a play production, there are chances things will go wrong.

“[I’m most nervous about] if something breaks during the middle of a product or if sound misses their cue.” Marrs said.

At the age of 15, most sophomores aren’t ready for this type of challenge, being a stage manager.

“Yeah, I absolutely do [think she’s ready]. She has to keeping working at it and find ways to be diplomatic with her peers in working and making sure she can balance the whole idea of making sure stage crew is having fun but also doing their job very well. That’s tough especially when your 15 and I really think she can. I wouldn’t let anyone I wouldn’t trust do the job because it’s too much responsibility,” Cornwell said.