The Crucible: Behind the Scenes

Minot North High School’s first theatrical production, “The Crucible”, encountered many difficulties while forming the show. With the new theatre, the crew had to adjust and learn a new system. The directors, Mr. Honerman and Mr. Michels, had to go through sessions of training, crew members

During construction, the wrong type of flooring was installed: a dance floor, which caused many roadblocks for the set construction. While a typical theatre has a separate “floor” that can be screwed on top of the already existing one to protect it from paint and other scrapes, such cannot be down with a dance floor. The floor is too brittle and scratches easily. This meant that the floor of the set had to be the plain black dance floor.

Because a theatre “floor” couldn’t be put down, big set pieces and “flats”, the walls of a set, could not be screwed down either. All the set pieces had to have the ability to be moved easily. Luckily, an idea sprung within Mr. Michels's head: rolling set pieces. Flats were created that were attached to wheels, which opened many possibilities for the set.

Along with the floor, many difficulties sprung with the transfer of materials from the previous theatre at Central Campus to Minot North. Central Campus was converted into a middle school and had planes for the storage area that occupied Minot North’s inventory. With a set deadline placed, all that was wanted to keep had to be transported to the new Minot North theatre facilities. While it took weeks to do, the transfer was accomplished.

With the new sound system, mics were available to be used for the production. While the sound crew had little time to prepare, only touching the mics the week of the show, everything went smoothly for the most part. Using mics benefitted the show in many ways, notably allowing actors of all volume to be heard all throughout the vast theatre.

The Crucible was a great opportunity to adjust to the new theatre and showcase its abilities. To see more, watch for the musical for the 2025-2026 school year.

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