Take a glance at the soundbooth during any Choate theater production and chances are you’ll see Lara Stone ’22, a senior in the Theater Arts Concentration, sporting a signature black shirt. Not sure where to look? From lighting to rain machines, you can easily watch her creations on stage, establishing a whole new realm for the actors to tell their stories. Often considered to be the backbone of Choate theater productions, she’s constantly running around, moving backdrops, and watching for light cues. Behind the scenes, she designs construction blueprints that allow for the productions to come to life.
Stone entered tech theater as a new sophomore at Choate after she was inspired by the director she worked with at her former school. As a new student still finding her bearings at the School, Stone worked on Clue during the fall of 2019. Stone recalled that being a part of the stage crew helped her feel welcome and allowed her to better assimilate into the Choate community. That experience crystallized her passion and empowered her to continue exploring tech theater. “Everyone finds their niche here, and it’s a little obscure, but tech theater definitely works for me,” said Stone.
At the end of a long class day, spending the rest of the afternoon painting and building set designs for hours might seem to be a tedious task for most, but Stone finds it relaxing. As a member of the Theater Concentration program, she spends three days a week working on tech theater, two hours each day. However, with Xanadu and Twelve Angry Jurors having both hit the Choate stage recently, she’s spent the past few weeks in the shop every day from 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. putting the final touches on both shows. During this time, she collaborated with directors and faculty, constructed pieces from drafts, installed them onstage, and ran through full dress rehearsals.
“It’s one of those things where time just flies by; I just lose track of it,” said Stone. Even just walking through the door of the PMAC gives her a sense of relief and spikes her energy. “There’s some form of exhilaration there, which also goes along with a manifestation of calmness. You have to be a presence that is productive and active for all the actors. Troubleshooting and paying attention to details play a big role in that, and I try to channel both of those things in a lot of aspects of life,” she said.
Stone admits, however, that technical theater can definitely be frustrating at times. Little things, like using the wrong type of screws or having a prop accidentally break, can cause her to feel pressured. Stone uses these small, yet time-consuming, challenges to learn how to adapt, a skill necessary in the uncertain world of live theater. Xanadu was a perfect example of this. It was the first show that she contributed to stylistically, designing all of the lighting in the Gelb Theater. Unfortunately, technical difficulties forced the entire cast and crew to relocate their show on opening night from the Gelb Theater to the Chase Bear Theater, the Black Box, in less than 24 hours. She said that although her “heart hurt a little bit,” and it was extremely stressful, the process was rewarding. “In the end, it worked out in the best possible way that it could’ve and it was great to see all the hard work pay off,” she said.
As a senior this year, Stone is trying to make the most out of her remaining time at Choate. She has packed her year with a directing class, Student Directed Scenes, and tech work for Fringe Festival. She plans to end on a high note by stage-managing Footloose in the spring. Planning even further into the future, Stone says that she has been looking at colleges with strong theater programs, including those with opportunities to continue her focus on technical theater. Her involvement in the Arts Concentration at Choate has given her so many opportunities to pursue her passion, but she’s certainly not going to stop after graduating. “Technical theater is something that I love and something that I look forward to every day so I definitely don’t want to let go of that,” affirmed Stone.
