Seniors ripped expensive theater equipment during the mosh pit on the first night of the Senior Show. Some seniors view this accident as a minor problem and think that the equipment can be replaced easily. The tech group, which spends more time working with the equipment, has differing opinions on the incident.

In this year’s Senior Show, “Censored by Administration,” the Class of 2018 performed a variety of acts including skits, videos and dancing. Behind the scenes, however, the seniors had help from others to get every technical aspect of the show just right. They were helped by the tech crew, which also helps with WHSTE’s musicals and the spring play. During one of the dances, a $10,000 piece of equipment called the “cyclorama” was ripped, causing many reactions from both the seniors and the tech group.

“We constantly told [the seniors] not to touch [the cyclorama],” junior tech crew member Emily Rader said. “We told the seniors five to ten times not to touch it and we told Mr. Dumais, [but] I don’t know if he actually ever told the seniors. There was a big problem with adults communicating with students because it’s not really [the tech crew’s] place to tell the seniors what to do. We shouldn’t be scolding the seniors because they are older than us.”

Senior Juliet Nadeau said that the seniors never received the message about the importance of avoiding the cyclorama.

“Yeah, we got a lot of the blame for it,” Nadeau said. “It wasn’t something we were told. Nobody realized how important it was, nobody made it clear that it was that important or that expensive. I think if we would have known that, we would have been more careful. But I think that [since] no one mentioned it, we just thought it wasn’t that important.”

The cyclorama is an expensive piece of equipment used for projecting colors and giving more dimension to the stage. It is used for lighting almost the entire stage.

“It’s called a cyclorama and it cost $10,000, but unless you are in theater, you don’t know what it is,” Nadeau said. “So I guess when we did the mosh pit at the end, it got ripped and a small hole [appeared]. It does not seem like a big deal, but I guess it can be. It caused a ripple effect going up the screen.”

“Yes, it was accidental, but we warned them multiple times over and over again,” Rader said. “And our warnings were not heard. It was accidental, but it’s still kind of hurtful because I think of the theater as something I love. I love being there. I find the theater my domain, as do all my other friends. So when [the cyclorama] was ripped, it was kind of the icing on the cake for everyone to just be pissed off.”

Senior Isabel Steneri agrees that it was an accident, but believes it is not a big deal.

“I think if it was in the middle of the screen, like if there was a giant hole in the middle of the screen, then I think yes it would be a big deal,” Steneri said. “But if it’s a small hole at the bottom of the screen, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Yeah, I mean it’s definitely going to cost a lot to fix, but I think they more blamed it on us. I mean, accidents happen, so nobody intentionally ripped it.”

In order to prevent this kind of damage again, Rader suggests future Senior Shows without the cyclorama.

“One thing that I’m suggesting is maybe seniors not getting the [cyclorama] since it has been ripped in the past two years,” Rader said. “The Senior Show is always very crowded and there’s a lot of people that don’t know about the theater. They are constantly yelling at us for microphones and other equipment, but [they’re] not respecting them while they’re being given to them.”