Students in Theater: Can They Really Do It All?

Explore the delicate balancing act of Middlesex students involved in the musical as they juggle the intense demands of Tech Week, academic responsibilities, and athletic commitments.

Is “Hell Week” really hell-ish? Answers vary depending on whom you ask, but a random sampling of students involved in theater seems to show that Tech Week, also known as “Hell-Week,” tests the limits of students’ abilities to really “do it all.” 

Tech Week is the notoriously difficult stretch before the opening night of Middlesex’s plays and musicals. Many find Tech Week to be both the most stressful and most rewarding days of theater involvement. For athletes, students, and performers, juggling the diverse roles expected of Middlesex students poses a daunting challenge. Melissa Chan ‘27, a freshman involved in the play, admits that this period of strenuous preparation held up her other commitments, as “Tech Week was stressful because [she] couldn’t focus on [her upcoming] Green Rooms.” She further stressed the difficulty of completing homework on nights with four hours of tech, lamenting, “I couldn’t get a lot of homework done so I had to stay up really late.” 

Despite the difficult balance between theater and external commitments, when asked if it is possible to do both arts and sports at Middlesex, Melissa believed that it is achievable. Indeed, although full Middlesex involvement is possible, it comes at a cost. Lara Moore ‘26 remarks that she had to go out of her way to extend various projects, stating, “I had to get some extensions on assignments and I was sleeping later being a day student.” However, Lara still enjoyed Tech Week despite the struggle to manage work, and noted that teachers were especially understanding, for they “were nice and helpful with extensions.” Nevertheless, teachers’ adaptability for students involved in Tech Week is highly variable, prompting many to struggle with overall life balance during weeks of particular extracurricular stress. 

Even those who were involved behind the scenes found themselves struggling to keep up with work during this particularly gruesome stretch. Tech crew, who meets for an hour weekly prior to Tech Week, is all hands on deck for the days leading up to the show. Thea Choyt, a senior who ran the lights during the Batboy Production, revealed that she had to do work either before or after the days of tech, professing that she “did almost nothing during Tech Week homework-wise” as she was so low on time. She commented that “tech crew is not a huge commitment… except for when you get to Tech Week since you get back and are exhausted.” Similarly, Athena Goulet ‘24, another senior involved in Tech crew, states that with her athletic commitments she “couldn’t do that much homework unless it was immediately due,” but ultimately concluded that it still “feels possible to be involved in both the arts and athletics.”

Middlesex pushes students to be all in on everything they do. No matter how small the role, Tech Week tests everyone’s limits during times of particularly intense expected commitment. Though balance is difficult during Tech Week and overall for students dedicated to the arts, the genuine passion for arts, athletics, and academics still drives students to find ways to get it all done. 

Diana Davidson