Any student at Firestone High School can join our Stage Crew for one show or for the entire season. Each production utilizes dozens of students in a wide variety of technical and support areas. No previous experience is necessary to serve on most of our crews; students are often encouraged to volunteer for a backstage role as an entree into the program.

Technical crews include costumes, hair and make-up, lights, props, set construction, sound, and stage management. Support areas include box office, publicity, and ushering.

Students can volunteer by completing a crew application form.

Stage Crew is a fun activity for students who enjoy theatre but do not aspire to an onstage role.

Students looking to play a significant leadership role in production can undertake this specialized training program.

Firestone Theatre offers hands-on training for all students who desire to serve as a stage manager for one of our many theatre productions. Developed specifically for our program by former AEA stage manager Elynmarie Kazle, this training has successfully prepared students to serve as stage manager for our productions but also for other area theatres and beyond. Many former students have credited this training for helping them prepare for a career in business and office management among other professions.

Training is offered free of charge each fall during the school year.

The Committee of Seven is a student leadership team that organizes and manages our various  crews. The Committee is formed each spring the following theatre season and helps to set a training schedule and support the designers and crew members throughout the year. The Committee of Seven is comprised of the following positions: Auditions Manager, Box Office Manager, Chair of Costumes, House Manager, Chair of Lights, Chair of Make-up and Hair, Publicity Manager, Chair of Props, Shop Foreman, Chair of Sound, and Chair of Stage Managers.

Hundreds of FHS students volunteer to work on our crews each year. We total up their volunteer hours every year and it almost always numbers more than 4000 volunteer hours for the season! Students who earn enough hours are inducted into the student group called Stage Crew and receive that recognition in the yearbook and on their transcript. Our top hours earners are recognized at the end-of-the-year Thespian Induction and Award Dinner. Below are the top six hour earners for the 2010-2011 theatre season:

1.  Zoe Sapienza  208 hours

2. Dred Geib  191.5 hours

3.  Will Rothman  157 hours

Members of our stage crew provide support for our theatre productions but also for just about any performance in the Linda B. Kersker Auditorium of Firestone High School. Our students learn the full operation of the theatre and its backstage areas so they are in demand student organizations and rentals that use our facility. Our students design the technical elements for the annual School Talent Show, the Hamlet Video Awards program, the Step Team Performances, and many other school  assemblies. Our students are sometimes hired by rentals who use our space. These students run lights and sound and serve as stage hands and house managers among many other meaningful tasks. They are in demand at many local theatres thanks to the skills they learn in our building.

4.  LaSosha Edwards 129.5 hours

5.  Imokhai Okolo 125 hours

6.  Autumn Jacobs  97.5 hours

Actors struggle to find consistent work in the professional world but techies are almost always on-the-job. Many of our tech graduates are fully employed in the professional theatres including placement in the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, the University of Maryland, Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., and at Hudson Scenic Studio in New York City, among others.