For every production or event that Players puts together, there is an enormous amount of effort that goes on behind the scenes. The role of a tech officer in DU Players is a vital cog in the extremely busy societal machine. Trinity News virtually met with tech officers Daire Ó Muirí and Lara Coady to discuss the importance of their roles within Players and the challenges they faced over the course of these particularly turbulent months. As the country continues to slowly emerge from lockdown and a societal standstill period — a period in which College and the majority of its societies were forced to have their plans scrapped or postponed — DU Players quietly continued their consistent streak of productivity. Due to the transfer of content to a virtual platform, the society was able to offer many of its members the chance to be given a new perspective and role within the group.
“The best way to learn is to jump in at the deep end.”
Tech officers are required to fulfil a number of jobs in Players, which means maintaining equipment, looking after the theatre and workshop, setting up events, and working with designers, among many other roles. Daire and Lara, both third-year Drama and Theatre students, threw themselves into the technical learnings that came with their course. They both credit this as having allowed them to hone their skills over the last few years in college whilst also learning from the more senior members within the society. Lara explains that “the best way to learn is to jump in at the deep end,” whilst also saying that she “surrounded [herself] with older, more experienced students and learned all [she] could from working with them.” Daire echoes this sentiment by saying that the older members were “very welcoming”, providing him with an environment to learn the basics when he was on general crew in first year. He says that this environment allows for “tech-minded people to be ambitious.”
“I’m learning a new side to tech that I wouldn’t have really known beforehand.”
Unfortunately for the tech officers, lockdown was brought into place one week after they were voted onto the newly-elected committee. Whilst Lara states that there is only so much she can learn from sitting at a desk, the recent changes as a result of the pandemic have resigned both Daire and herself to a more virtual and less hands-on role within the society. Despite the blip, the society’s virtual festival, Resilience, was put in place over the past few weeks, replacing what would have usually been an annual summer festival. Daire says that he was given new challenges: “I’m learning a new side to tech that I wouldn’t have really known beforehand.” Daire also admits that he was “blown away” by what he saw being produced by some of the members of Players for the virtual festival. “There were people using LED strips in their rooms — it was amazing to see what people could do when they were left to their own devices.”
Lara says both she and Daire used time in lockdown to think about ways in which they could improve DU Players over the duration of their term. Both agreed to focus on education and development — something that could be improved on from an external location. Moving forward, Daire and Lara hope to continue features in Players such as Tech Talks, in which a new topic is discussed each week and guests come in and speak about a variety of topics.
Whether it be creating a DU Players Disco, having a virtual festival or hosting weekly events, both Lara and Daire have been striving for a sense of community.
Daire and Lara are looking hopefully towards the future following a period in which a sense of community was needed more than ever before. The members of Players, and especially the talented tech officers, have used the period as a time of reflection and improvement for the society as a whole. Whether it be creating a DU Players Disco, having a virtual festival or hosting weekly events, both Lara and Daire have been striving for a sense of community. They find value in encouraging members to continue engaging with art during a period where the role of an artist has become more important than ever.
