OKEMOS - The overture played, the stage was set, the lights came up, and the curtain was rigged as the Okemos High School Theatre Department prepared for the opening night of their fall musical, Little Women.

With all that preparation, there's more than just notes to be hit and marks to be made. The crew behind the cast puts in just as many hours as the cast.

Sophomore Chynna Pomales is stage-managing her first show, and says it's helped her learn several things about herself.

"I am so impatient with people," said Pomales. "I've realized that this show."

But Pomales says she's also learned to come out of her shell.

"I'm also not an assertive person," said Pomales. "But I learned that I kinda just need to kind of take control sometimes and do what needs to be done."

And that include communicating with the people on the other end of the headset.

Senior Ben Barker has been involved in the theatre program at Okemos throughout his four years of high school, and is the sole rigger for Little Women.

"I don't have an assistant rigger, which would be nice," said Ben Barker.

"Normally, he would pull one line-set at a time, so one rope at a time. I sometimes will have to pull two at a time, so that's the tricky part."

The rigs Barker pulls can tip the scale at 1,000 pounds, and even lift him off the ground in order to make sure various backdrops and curtains have a safe landing onstage.