If Franklin Regional sophomore Jess Wingard never has to build another staircase, it will be too soon.

“That’s the biggest challenge,” said Wingard, 15, a member of the stage crew for FR’s spring production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” “You have to cut some things bigger than they need to be and some things smaller than they need to be.”

Unfortunately, she does have to build another one. In fact, as of Jan. 31, there were at least five more staircases to go.

Emily Duncan, 18, a senior at Kiski Area High School and a member of its stage crew, knows Wingard’s struggle.

“Two years ago I built five sets of stairs for ‘Joseph,’” she said, sounding slightly exasperated. “Everything has to be so exact and it all has to fit together perfectly.”

Staircase struggles are just one of the many obstacles overcome each year by members of high-school stage and technical crews, who are often the unsung heroes of teenage stage productions.

“They’re here 40 hours a week and on the weekends, building,” said Franklin Regional Stage and Auditorium Manager Deb Scheinert. “I added it up one year and we had 600 man-hours put into the sets.”

Stage and tech crew members are deliberately — and quite literally — hidden in the shadows. An effective stage crew member is rarely, if ever, seen. But their work is a sight to behold.

Build, build, build

The set-pieces onstage at Kiski Area High School during a Feb. 11 build session were impressive even before a massive boom began lowering the facade of the “Legally Blonde” sorority house onto the stage.

“The walls are almost 14 feet, and it’s 40 feet long,” said Kiski stage crew manager Ryan Felt. “It’s the biggest part of the set.”

Felt ordered about 60 two-by-fours, more than 20 sheets of plywood and a host of other materials.

“We tried to do everything to scale,” he said.

At Franklin Regional, Deb Scheinert has to have all of her lumber ordered by the time students return from Christmas break.

“The kids have to learn how to read blueprints,” said Scheinert. Franklin Regional’s sets are designed by her husband Paul.

Franklin Regional began with a stage crew of about 47 students. A group of about 35 regularly attends build sessions, Scheinert said.

“What they do here is train each other,” she said. “We have to have at least one member of every class doing every job. If they want to be stage managers, they have to know a little bit of everything.”

Leadership skills

Penn-Trafford High School senior and stage manager Katy Frank has to be at musical rehearsals a half-hour before anyone else arrives.

“I have to get the scenes set, make sure the doors are unlocked for the prop people and make sure everything is ready for rehearsal,” said Frank, 18, stage manager for P-T’s spring production of “Legally Blonde.” “When it gets closer to the show, I pick my backstage crew, who all have to have a certain number of hours working behind the scenes to be selected.”

Frank served as an assistant stage manager last year, and said the leadership skills she learned are essential to her success this year.

“If you don’t have that, the whole backstage area can be off-balance,” she said.

Penn-Trafford junior Gabriel List, 17, is part of both the musical cast and the stage crew.

“I like seeing backstage from a different angle,” he said. “Especially since I’m considering a career in theater arts, it helps to get a look at everything that’s happening.”

Kiski Area senior Jaden Myers, 18, also splits her time between musical rehearsals and stage crew builds, spending about eight hours per week doing each, in addition to cheerleading and classwork.

“I just try to fit everything in as much as I can,” Myers said.

Penn-Trafford senior Dorelia Hankins, 18, has been part of the musical paint crew since her freshman year, and said it’s given her experience in just about every aspect of the theater.

“It even taught me to overcome my fear of heights, because we do a huge border around the proscenium, and I like to work on those more-detailed parts of the set,” Hankins said.

‘A real tight-knit family’

Jake Weinstein, a Franklin Regional senior, stopped by a build session last year during the high school’s production of “The Addams Family,” and he never left.

“It’s fun seeing everyone joking around,” Weinstein said. “Being new to the drama guild, everyone has been really nice in teaching me what to do.”

Rome Oliver, a junior at Kiski Area, had a similar experience.

“It was more the people than anything,” said Oliver, 17. “Someone who was already in stage crew told me I should go, and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve been friends with Jaden and Emily all through high school, and it’s really because of stage crew.”

At Kiski, Felt has four senior stage crew students who mentor younger members of the group.

“The neat part about our program is we don’t use adults. It’s just me and the kids,” Felt said. “I know some school districts use adults and carpenters, but we’re all self-taught.

Scheinert employs her husband’s expertise at Franklin Regional, but emphasizes the importance of most projects being student-led.

“The more the kids want to take over, the better it will be,” she said. “Once the show goes onstage, it’s all theirs.”

And the bonds developed during the building process are nearly as strong as the nails holding the set together.

“By the end of it, it’s almost like an extended family,” Felt said. “We work three and four days a week from 3 to 8 p.m., the kids give up evenings and weekends, and it becomes a real tight-knit family.”

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