In 25 years of performances at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Huskies have put in an incalculable number of hours bringing stories to life onstage. After the cast takes their final bows, audience members gather their coats and playbills and exit through the Rozsa Lobby into the cool night air. They might discuss the acting, the music, a particular dramatic scene—but often, some of the most important pieces of a live theatrical performance are the ones the audience never notices.
Moving like shadows in their all-black clothing, theatre technicians—also called techs and stagehands—are the unsung heroes of any live production. If you've never been in a production yourself, you might not even be aware that these mysterious figures exist. In fact, that's the point, says Nikki Donley '26, theatre and entertainment technology major and co-technical director for Tech's 2025 production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
"Ideally, the audience doesn't notice anything," says Donley. "We do our jobs onstage the whole time saying to ourselves, 'Don't notice me, don't notice me, don't notice me.'"
A live performance presented by Tech's Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) has many moving pieces, and many people are charged with putting those pieces together and keeping them moving. With so many different jobs to be done, Michigan Tech's productions have room for students to gain experience with all types of theatrical skills—not just singing, dancing, and acting onstage come opening night.
What do theatre techs do behind the curtains? At Michigan Tech, the answer is "a little bit of everything." Behind the scenes, Huskies design and run lighting and sound cues, build sets, paint scenery, manage props, sew costumes, apply makeup, solve last-minute problems, help keep actors on cue—and more.
"One of the things that makes our program unique is our ability and access to other aspects and jobs within a performance," says Donley. During the fall 2024 production of The Glass Menagerie, she worked as an assistant technical director, scenic artist, and electrician, assisting Terry Jachimiak, VPA assistant professor.
Wearing multiple hats isn't uncommon for students involved in a Tech performance. "Being able to diversify our skill sets all on one production in aspects other than sound opens up avenues to other possible employment and careers within our field and lets us better pad out our resumes," says Donley.
"What's truly baffling to me is the hours everyone spends," says Donley. "Whenever I came in to build something, there were people already in the theatre programming lighting or sound cues. Some nights, when looking for a place to grab a quick nap, I heard rehearsals going on. Some days I ran into some friends heading into or out of the costume shop to do some alterations or fittings."
The work of every student, faculty, and staff member is necessary for each performance. However, it's the painters, set builders, electricians, sound board operators, stagehands, and countless others who measure the production's success in invisibility. These Huskies spend months creating the performance, only to wait quietly in the wings on opening night, hoping all the hours they've put in pay off so their hard work won't be noticed.
From STEM Homework to Fleet Street: Behind the Scenes of a Michigan Tech Performance
Take a peek behind the curtain at how Huskies showcased their talent in our Visual and Performing Arts department's production of Sweeney Todd.
Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 185 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
