How students set the stage

Prop and set-dressing crews at Estancia High create a 1940s feel for ‘Truckline Café.’ They also do a little cooking.The old iron cash register at Estancia High School has a row of thick metal keys, the kind clerks pushed half a century ago before the days of computers. To log a purchase, the user must type in the dollar amount, then turn a crank on the side before the wooden drawer shoots out.

Pauline Maranian’s production drama students, who are busy preparing for their fall play, rented the cash register from the Fullerton Civic Light Opera Co. That was the easy part. The difficult part was getting three people to lug the heavy machine into the campus theater -- but then, one of the lessons of Maranian’s class is that producers must sweat for their art.

Estancia’s drama class will present Maxwell Anderson’s “Truckline Café,” a 1940s period piece, in the first two weeks of December. By the time the first curtain rises, the 30-odd students in the class will have performed almost every duty of the theater -- from acting to costume design to set decoration.

“Eventually, we just live here,” Maranian said Thursday morning as a small group of students went through a rehearsal on the Estancia stage.

It was what the teacher calls an “Italian” rehearsal, in which the actors learn their lines -- and let off steam -- by performing the play at top speed, with loud voices, broad gestures and ethnic drawls. While the actors flustered and moaned onstage, however, other students sat off to the side and made quieter contributions to the show. Some of the key players in Estancia’s drama productions are not actors at all, but painters, set designers and prop managers.

“We go to the Goodwill, garages, anywhere we can find anything,” said senior Kirsten Miller, 17, the stage manager for “Truckline Café.”

“We bring in fake furniture, basically, and set up how we think the stage is going to be. You have to make sure all parts of the stage are utilized -- that there’s not an empty side.”

For “Truckline Café,” the prop and set-dressing committees had to delve deep to recreate a small diner in post-World War II California. Students went on the Internet to find out what kind of items would be on a 1940s menu, and what the prices would be (one hamburger: 40 cents). In the coming weeks, Kirsten said, the designers will stain the booths and look for suitable art to hang on the walls.

Senior Helena Rios, 17, the leader of the prop and set-dressing committees, said building a set made for better understanding of the literature.

“You go through the script and look for any hints they give you about props you need,” she said.

Much of the woodwork on the stage, including tables and booths, came from Ron Wyman, an Estancia parent who contributes to the set design every year. Students, though, are in charge of painting and decorating -- as well as some more unusual tasks. Helena said that for every performance, the crew would cook chili, toast and corn bread for the actors to eat onstage.

While Maranian serves as director and producer of the shows, much of the instruction passes from older students to new arrivals in the class.

“We just learn from what everybody tells us,” said junior Justino Perez, 16, as he painted a wall Thursday. “The students who have been here three years always have ideas.”20051122iqc61hknKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Helena Rios, left, Rodrigo Chavez and Helena Rios rehearse a scene on the student-created set of “Truckline Café” at Estancia High School last week.