Wendy Harms is starting a Tech Theatre class next semester. It will take place during fourth block. Overall, the class will teach the basics of putting on a performance, and students will learn to appreciate all that goes on behind the scenes of a theatre performance. The class will help support the school’s performances, this year the spring musical and the middle school play.

Students will learn to make costumes and sets. They will be taught to get a visual from the script, to use the context of the script and the character and to construct the costumes and sets. They will also learn how to work with the cast and to fit the costumes to the actor. To do these things, Harms will teach the students how to sew and paint, along with other skills.

Harms will also teach how to do lighting for a performance. “When you light you have three different sources, and its complex it’s more that just turning on a light,” says Harms. Students will also be taught how to do stage make-up for a performance. Since this class will support all of the school’s shows, throughout the class the students will do all maintenance for the Manitou Springs Elementary School’s theatre.

The class will be built around what the students’ interests are, as Harms plans to work with the student when teaching. “I have priorities for it but then we can figure out together [what] it’s gonna look like,” she said.