Senior Profile: Veronica Wiedl

As the audience watches the actors on stage, immersed in the show in front of them, behind the scenes, the technical theater crew works to bring the show to life. None understand the amount of
work put in by the technical theater crew better than Veronica Wiedl.

“We build the set and run all of the technical aspects of the theater like the lights, sound and [back]drops for different shows,” Veronica said. “Usually there are about 30 kids [working on a set] and it takes six to eight weeks depending on how much time we have.”

Veronica’s interest in technical theater started in sixth grade and continued throughout high school where she discovered she wanted to continue her involvement with technical theater beyond KHS. Another one of her passions, art, will be her college major. Veronica and her friends said technical theater has helped progress her art skills because Veronica does a lot of art behind the scenes.

“[Veronica] having this base of technical theater in high school will help her going into college,” Olivia Flagg-Bourke, senior, said. “Just having a really sturdy knowledge already [about technical theater] before she goes into it in the real world [will help].”

Behind the scenes, Veronica said the crew is often having fun while the play goes on. The technical theater crew often laughs and makes jokes through headsets backstage. However, according to Veronica, when something goes wrong, it can be stressful.

“There’s always times during a show when a mic will cut out or the lights will malfunction and all you have to do is make sure you get through the mistake,” Veronica said. “[Afterwards] everyone has to calm down because otherwise we’ll keep making more mistakes.”

According to Veronica, the stress level of the crew and the pressure they’re under to get everything done in time depends on certain factors like what kind of set they’re building, how many crew members they have and how much time they have. Every play is different and requires a different amount of work.

“For Once Upon A Mattress everything [behind the scenes] was really under control,” Veronica said. “But for certain shows like Mary Poppins, we were working up until the very end and there are some things that just don’t get done because we run out of time.”

Bryson Reid, senior and Veronica’s friend think she has grown during her time with technical theater and the program has been beneficial for her. Both Olivia and Bryson are also involved with technical theater and said Veronica is more talkative and has grown her talent with art.

“She’s gone from being [quiet] and soft spoken to developing her art and leadership skills and [being] more willing to say what she feels about things,” Bryson said. “She’s realizing how talented she is.”

Olivia and Bryson said Veronica is very talented and they admire the work she does backstage. She designed and painted the entire backdrop for Mary Poppins, which she said is one of her best memories with technical theater.  

“Veronica always does really quality work,” Olivia said. “[Her work is] much better than what I could ever do, she’s an amazing painter and artist. Whenever I see her she’s always got some kind of paint on her hands. She’s just so focused in it and she doesn’t care if she gets messy.”