Arts Award in Technical Theatre at Formby High School

Concluding our ‘backstage and technical theatre’ theme on the blog throughout October Victoria Harrocks, Community Arts Coordinator at Formby High School in Liverpool shares how their students work their way up from Bronze through to Gold, taking on a number of backstage and/or technical theatre roles at the school.

At Formby High School we have a longstanding culture of nurturing students’ talents through our technical theatre programme, ‘The Tech Crew’ club, (as they are fondly known) is open to students in Years 7-13. They are responsible for all the technical elements of school productions. Many of our ‘Tech Crew’ alumni work in professional theatre following achievement of their Silver and/or Gold Arts Award.

We promote recruitment for ‘The Tech Crew’ during our Freshers Fair. The Fair is organised for our Year 7 students when they start the school to highlight all the arts activities on offer. Our ‘FHSXTRA’ (Formby High School Extra) programme has something for everyone to choose from.

Within ‘FHSXtra’ we have activities, clubs, ensembles and training programmes which are open access, specialist and ‘invitational’. There really is something for everyone and an opportunity for everyone to ‘find their tribe’! In addition to the ‘Tech Crew’, there’s a ‘Musical Theatre Company’, ‘Music Tech Recording’, ‘String Group’ and many more. The ‘Tech Crew’ are central to assisting the performances created through the ‘FHSXTRA’ opportunities.

We have branded our clubs ‘FHSXtra’ to give our arts training an image and so that our students can identify with it and take pride in their club. When students participate, they discover likeminded friends, they find their talents and they have a meaningful experience. We also extend this across our community, engaging parents, families and the local community in our events and activities. A previous Bronze Arts Award cohort performed and ran theatre workshops in our local library on ‘World Book Day’ for a local feeder primary school.

‘Everyone an artist’ is our mission.

The clubs directly support our Arts Award offer and students who work their way up to Gold have been involved in many of the clubs during their school years and often help by mentoring younger students. Our Tech Crew recently achieved a Technical Theatre National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) nomination for their work on ‘Sister Act Jr’ created for our FHSXTRA Musical Theatre Company. NODA supports amateur theatre groups and helps amateur societies and individuals achieve the highest standards of best practice and performance resulting in district awards ceremonies. There is a NODA society in every county in the country.

Typically, students with an interest in the backstage workings of theatre ask to join the ‘Tech Crew’. They are given a probationary period in which they observe and learn basic skills. Once they officially join the club - which runs at lunchtimes as well as evenings and weekends in the lead up to a production, they are trained by the Drama teachers in school, undertaking a series of practical tests to check their learning and competence. A keen interest in theatre tech, a good work ethic, a kind manner and trustworthy personality are often the fundamental skills required.

We also select students within Drama lessons, with some students opting to take GCSE and GCE A Level Drama as stage and theatre design students instead of actors. Our Tech Crew support the Creative Arts departments by providing technical assistance for school musicals, plays, pantomimes and for academic exam performance work. This experience feeds into our Silver and Gold Arts Award programmes as students are mentored and gain real world work experience. For example, stage lighting is a key component to creating performances, so we teach our students how to correctly clean and store the lights, illuminate the stage and highlight key focal points which set the scene giving visual direction to a performance.

The ‘Tech Crew’ also learn how to work backstage during a production, work front of house and programme shows. They develop the ability to operate the equipment, a sound desk, lighting desk, lanterns, mics and cabling. They are also responsible for safe use, upkeep and storage of equipment, set and costume, and maintaining the studio. The general structure is that a senior tech or 'Head Tech' sixth former takes the lead working collaboratively with younger students on productions. We encourage a culture for the ‘Tech Crew’ to behave professionally in a rehearsal and performance environment.

The Drama Department  teachers (Head of Department Kelsey Donlevy and Sean Richards) pass on their skilled knowledge to the ‘Tech Crew’ and in collaboration the Arts Award team (myself a Dance/Performing Arts teacher and Community Arts Coordinator and Beth Dilworth a Music teacher) progress the learning through the Arts Award accreditation. Gold Arts Award is run during Sixth Form Enrichment time; we organise theatre trips, work experience and bring in guest practitioners often sourced from our local community or PTA, to support learning. We are fortunate to have several partnerships with organisations who offer additional support and training for our students. We have close links to local professional theatres including The Atkinson in Southport. Their technical theatre team offer free training when the students are assisting on the productions that we collaborate on. Activities in gaining skills, experiencing workshops and meeting industry professionals support both Silver and Gold Unit 1.

In Unit 2, Silver and Gold students take a leadership role. For example, using their ‘Tech Crew’ and workshop learning they may work with actors to create a lighting or sound plan, then implement it for a live stage performance, working as Head Tech on a theatre production. Or by filming and editing a theatre performance.

For Unit 2 Gold, ‘Technical Theatre’ students often present their work, drawing from productions they have created sound and lighting for, by presenting their creations through film, PowerPoint and even time lapse as evidence of their work, plus they are usually responsible for the technical and filming of the final Unit 2 Showcase.

Case study

Silver and Gold Arts Award alumni and Former Head Tech, Thomas, began his journey as part of our theatre ‘Tech Crew’ in Year 7. As he moved up through the school, he progressed to create lighting and sound design for various productions including, ‘Peter Pan’ and academic Drama practical exams. Thomas achieved his Silver Arts Award in lockdown during Year 11. At this time the Drama practical work required filming for the exam board to replace the live exams and shows. Thomas set about learning new skills in film making for Unit 1 Silver, using online tutorials expanding his vision of a career in theatre, to film. In Unit 2 he created a project, filming and editing short performances that were unable to be seen by an audience at that time.

After achieving his Silver Arts Award, Thomas decided to work towards Gold. He began by designing lighting and sound for our school theatre productions and filming the work of our musical theatre show ‘Into the Woods JR’. Thomas made a film show reel of the performance to demonstrate his editing skills. The film was featured in the final showcase for Unit 2 of Gold (leadership of an arts project).

On leaving school Thomas chose to take a degree in Digital Media and Extended Reality at Salford University. I recently managed to catch up with Thomas to find out how his education is progressing and how the Silver and Gold Arts Award had inspired him.

During his university course Thomas has learnt about creating graphics, websites, video and film making, social media, marketing, game design and 3D modelling. Thomas explained that Arts Award encourages student led exploration, arts activities and skills development. The student led mindset encouraged by Arts Award continues to motivate him to try new things and create opportunities. Thomas’ flatmate Bix has founded Salford Sports TV and the pair spend their spare time filming University sport to stream to fans.

Thomas appreciates the mentors and teachers who helped shape and inspire him to pursue his career in the arts. He described how engaging in arts activities is beneficial to everyone in a creative team and the importance of making industry connections. With this in mind, Thomas is mentoring some of our current Gold students studying tech theatre and film making and as he is a University representative he’s offered University tours and workshops to inspire our newest cohort.

Thomas hopes to continue with a Masters in XR Stages, a course which trains students to create film-based TV backdrops. Or he would like to work in the film or social media world.

Thomas’ message to students interested in a career in the creative industries emphasises the importance of courses like Silver and Gold Arts Award because they, ‘Orientate students to gain experience and experiment with their art form. They make life really good and can be life changing when you seek out opportunities to get involved.’

You can see some of Thomas's film work and interviewing here.

Photos of Thomas by @davidevans.media