Lights, props, colorful set-ups, actors… everyone is familiar with the performance aspect of a play because it’s what they see. What happens on stage, or what the audience experiences all allude to the time spent rehearsing and getting everything perfect for opening night. But are actors going over their lines the only thing that goes into putting together a show? No, and few people know what goes on behind the scenes.
Junior TJ Hartless has been one of the resident sound engineers since his sophomore year, and has worked, behind the scenes, on many of Freedom’s theater productions since freshman year as well as during pep rallies and assemblies. While Ha
rtless is not the only student involved in the more technical side of theater, he stands out in particular as one who puts a tremendous amount of effort and time into his work.
“It’s kind of like my sport equivalent,” Hartless said. “I found set [design] and I fell in love with [the idea of] having a second family.”
While sound is obviously an important part of theater because the audience needs to actually hear the actors while they’re on stage, that’s not all that Hartless is involved with. Working on sound is one of his primary responsibilities, but Hartless also works with set creation and construction and ensures that everything on stage is safe for the actors.
Even though sound in particular is something that Hartless is very passionate about and has spent a good amount of time working on, there are some drawbacks to having a large amount of responsibility regarding a performance going well.
“With sound, no one knows you exist until you mess up,” Hartless said. “You’re also the last to get credit, but the first to get criticized.”
Despite the work and precision that impact the success of a performance and the extensive time that goes into getting everything finished and ready to go, Hartless works hard to have everything run smoothly which is commendable to say the least.
“You know that [sound engineers] are there, but you don’t know how much work goes into it,” Hartless said. “[The sound engineer] is the most unsung hero.”
Students at Freedom do not have to become sound engineers to appreciate the contributions of those who actually do behind-the-scenes work, but next time the theater department is putting on a show, or there is a pep rally or assembly, think about these “unsung heroes” who will be working hard to make sure that everything runs smoothly.
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