When watching plays, audiences tend to focus on the actors’ performances.
But a show cannot run without costumes, lighting, and set designs, or students like senior Tom Ash, who works behind the scenes to help bring plays to life.
Ash has been an integral part of Cal High’s drama program for four years, bringing many artistic and dramatic concepts to the stage.
From designing sets to managing the stage, Ash controls the many aspects of Cal’s plays.
Other than working with theater, he has also helped design the garden outside the theater, with seniors Cody Heally and Alex Butruce.
Ash’s interest for building and designing comes from playing with Legos as a kid.
“My passion (for set design) started there,” said Ash.
And it continued with the influence of his father, Phil Ash, who is a department head for Life Safety Systems and designs for Redwood City Electric.
“Tom has always asked for my opinion on his designs,” Phil Ash said. “We have built many things together and Tom has learned a lot from that.”
Ash’s talent for building has also enabled him to help out his family over the years.
“He always had an interest in using my tools and helping me with anything around the house,” said Phil Ash.
Ash was first exposed to theater in the seventh and he and his father spent many nights on a set project. Through this first experience, Ash developed a passion for theater.
Unlike many teenagers who aren’t sure about their future, Ash has always dreamt of being a set designer and builder.
Because of his building talent, he now takes play production, an advanced theater class for techies and actors. It is there where his talent and creativity flourish.
“Tom is ambitious, smart, and a great leader,” said drama teacher Laura Woods. “His work is impeccable.”
Ash’s talent has allowed him to build pieces for numerous school plays such as the recent “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Aside from building, Ash is also a teacher to his fellow classmates.
“He is a good leader for students because he has respect from his peers,” said Woods. “He is also a good teacher, and is training juniors how to use power tools.”
Ash’s classmates nominated him to be the president of the drama club because of his leadership skills. Woods also chose him as a student director out of 25 students in one of the student-written plays from play production.
Ash said his father also influenced him through his sense of leadership, and they often discuss efficient ways to lead.
“We have had many discussions about how to motivate people and how to lead without being too demanding. I think that he has the best of me,” said Phil Ash.
On his way to building his dream, Ash took civil engineering and architecture to learn how to make designs on computer programs.
“I wanted to learn skills to make my designs better,” said Ash.
Apart from learning these skills, Ash also volunteered to take part in english teacher Ginger Osborn’s idea of building a garden on campus this year.
“We built everything from scratch,” said Ash . “We had a few concept designs and modified these into something we could use.”
They had to devise a budget plan to get support from the PTSA, and get the materials for building.
The district asked students in special education classes to help work on the garden, so the stress of the project was high. Ash, Heally and Butruce split the work equally and helped each other along the way.
While the others focused on designing and budgets, Ash contributed the most to make the design efficient.
“He (Ash) is a fantastic worker. He accepts people’s advice and works well with other people,” said Butruce. “Tom can look at the problem and find the solution. He can also use computer programs to get it to work.”
Ash’s innate leadership skills were also revealed through this project.
“When it is a group of peers for him, he is able to lead, and able to allow someone to lead in a situation where he has less experience in,” Heally said. “I believe those are the qualities of a true leader, the fact that he can lead and be led.”
After the garden is completed, Osborn will start a club to preserve the garden. As for Ash, he is planning on constructing a shed for the athletic department next.
Ash and his team will be required to follow the strict city and state codes and estimate the job sites, materials, and costs to help build the shed.
“It’s not easy for high schoolers to do,” architecture design teacher Steve Dick said. “The liability is huge.”
Despite constructing, he will also continue to design sets for drama. He will be directing two plays in the near future to strengthen his directing skills as well.
After graduating from high school, Ash wants to attend the University of Southern California for technical directing.
“I want to be a technical director who coordinates techies, make-up, costumes, lights, and sets,” said Ash.
His dream is to become a technical director in California, but Woods sees another future for Ash.
“Ideally, I hope he can come back home to be my technical director,” she said.
So, the next time you see a drama or play, start noticing the details and you might see the marks of Ash and his crew backstage.
