By Marian Patterson

As part of last years bond cycle, the Tech Theatre Magnet’s workshop was expanded and updated over the summer.

“They knocked out the wall to the classroom, cause the shop was really small, so taking out the wall connecting the theater classroom opened it up,” senior Morgan Knox said.

With the larger space, the workshop was outfitted with suspended electrical outlets and air pumps.

“The number one thing is that we can actually teach in a shop setting – previously because of our class sizes and our space limitations with the old shop we could only have five to six people in the shop at a time,” tech theater teacher Donny Covington said. “Now with the new class setting we can be hands on as a whole class.”

Knox said the updates and space helped a lot with the production of Arcadia and will be helpful with shows in the future.

“If we had the old shop we wouldn’t have space to do the doors for Arcadia,” he said. “Each door is eight feet long, one door would have taken up the whole shop. But with the space we were able to work on them in the shop and carry them down the hall to the black box.”

While tech theater staff says the new shop is proving useful, other improvements, like an integrated dust collecting system, will soon be added.

“For me it’s a big leap in us being able to teach the tools and the techniques,” Covington said.