At the start of a play at the Revere High School (RHS) Auditorium, senior Annabelle Steiner uses the light board to show off the show’s opening backdrop. She adds different flashing lights and colors for dramatic effect throughout the show, enthralling the audience and making them think that they are actually a part of the show.
Steiner is a part of Revere Players tech and lighting crew. Her official title is the Lead Tech and controls the light board for performances of all sorts. She also is involved in some of RHS art classes. Her junior year, Steiner joined the RHS Color Guard and was a member of the RHS Marching Band’s 2023 and 2024 season.
During her freshman year, Steiner went to help paint sets for one of Revere Players’ plays. She initially had no interest in being a part of tech, but the more she learned about it, the more she got interested in participating.
“I decided to go on a tour of the auditorium with the tech people and I thought it was really cool. . . . After that I kind of thought of it more as a reality and I found it really interesting,” Steiner said.
In order to get into tech, there is a test that each student has to take, and depending on the score, they get placed into specific tech roles. Steiner said that she spent the entire day of her exam studying for it.
“I studied really hard for the test, more than my actual test that day. I was unexpectedly picked for like the lightboard assistant,” Steiner said.
Steiner said that the previous light board director moved after her freshman year, so she took over. She said that the reason she stayed is because she loves playing with all the colors on the system. Steiner also said that one of her favorite things is seeing how the lights translate onto the stage.
“I love to see the colors and how they play into the backdrops. Mr. Pierson makes such vibrant backdrops. It’s really cool to see how different colors and hues and the brightness of the lights affect the backdrops and the atmosphere of the stage, and I think that’s really cool,” Steiner said.
Steiner is currently in her second year with the title of lead tech. Lead tech was not a thing until her sophomore year. The directors created the lead tech title to give tech a more defined role in Revere Players. She explains what she has to do as the person in charge of tech.
“Ava [Kovacevich] and I [are] in charge of tech in general. We also help recruit people and train them [and] just kind of manage everyone to manage our team,” Steiner said.
Junior Angelina Camardo is also a member of tech and is also one of Steiner’s good friends. Camardo said that she really grew closer with Steiner during the 2024 Marching Band season.
“I think of her as like one of my foundational friends. . . . I know she’s always there, and if I need her, I could go grab her,” Camardo said.
Camardo also said that Steiner does exactly what people ask of her even when she would rather do things her own way. She is able to follow up with all of the requests the Revere Players and directors want.
”She has an incredible ability to adapt to those situations and those requests,” Camardo said.
When Steiner joined color guard Camardo said that she was able to pick all the work up at a fast pace and it was exciting to see her learn as quickly as she did.
“[She joined] color guard her junior year [compared to] her freshman year. You couldn’t notice it. She blended it quite well with her skill levels and it made up for the lost time,” Camardo said.
On top of preformative arts, Steiner is involved in the art programs at RHS. She said she never cared much for her art and she only really took elements of art for fun her freshman year. She mentioned that her love for art started to grow when she joined the class Drawing & Design: Life drawing.
“I really enjoyed the challenge and I could see myself improving just over those few months,” Steiner said.
Art teacher Robert Pierson said that Steiner is really good at taking pictures for references for her drawings. He said her ability to take pictures is one of the reasons her artwork turns out so good.
“Annabelle will go out of her way to take many photographs to get the right one,” Pierson said.
Both Steiner and Pierson said that her biggest strength was artwork with colored pencils. Pierson said that she was especially skilled at drawing reflections. Steiner said that her very first drawing she made in her Advanced Placement (AP) art class was one of her favorites.
“My very first color pencil piece . . . [was] a picture that I took in marching band, and it had like a bunch of crazy reflections in it. And it was really difficult because there were a lot of little details, and it took me a really long time. But it was really rewarding finishing it,” Steiner said.
Steiner is going to handle the lights for her last Revere Players production early this April for the spring musical. Even though this is her last production, she still plans on working in a similar area during college. She plans on majoring in Theatre Design and Technology, so even though her journey of being a part of Revere Tech is almost over, she is still going to be pursuing everything she’s learned from it for the future.
