Nights and weekends, the whirring sounds of screw guns and the whine of circular saws echo across the stage of the Higgins-Demas Theater at Mount Desert Island High School.

Since midsummer, a dedicated group of students has been sawing, sanding, and fastening together an ambitious, two-story set for this year’s fall play, “Once Upon a Mattress.”

The impressive structure is the result of rigorous work that began weeks before school was even in session. It is a set, says technical director Peter Miller, that dwarfs others that have been built in recent years, both in size and in scope.

“This,” he says, “is the most complicated set that’s ever been done on this stage.”

The school’s theater tech program is also dwarfing those from the past. Since Mr. Miller took over in 2007, the program has grown from a couple of kids to nearly 20 students today. The success, Mr. Miller says, can be attributed to a teaching philosophy that puts the bulk of the responsibility, and the work, into the students’ hands.

“I teach them the design basics, I teach them how to use the tools, and then I say … ‘I need this built,’” he says. “Everyone has their own project, something they could point to and say, ‘I did that.’ So, they come away with a sense of ownership.”

On a recent night, as several students mold paper mache into props, others are busy creating a sizeable flower garden that juts out well past the stage. Still others are focused on the biggest task of the evening – installing a pair of ornate-looking, 12-foot-high swinging doors.

Junior Jason Goodrich started building the doors in August, and he is excited to see them finally going up. “They didn’t like to stay together,” he said, “so I got a little mean with them, and put some glue on them, and now they’re holding.”

As the giant gates are passed onto the stage, the students call to each other, crack jokes, laugh, pass around tools, and, with a well-synchronized effort, jockey the doors into place. And with that, a strung-together collection of plywood, Sonotubes and two-by-fours, all of it still needing coats of paint, is transformed into a fantastic castle, right out of a fairy tale.

By the time the curtains rise on the play on Nov. 19, the screw guns will have fallen silent, and the workers fallen into the background. Some will quietly, quickly move set pieces on and off of the stage between acts. Others will infiltrate the audience to film the production. They will remain virtually unknown, and that, to many of them, is just the point.

“I like that people don’t see what we’re doing, but they see it done,” says crew chief Samantha Robinson. “We’re the under-appreciated techies, but I find that pretty cool.”

This production is Ms. Robinson’s first one as crew chief. Last year, as a freshman, she took part in the tech program, managing a project on the set of the “Odd Couple” in the spring. For her, the experience of seeing a set come together is highly satisfying.

“I love creating stuff,” she says. “You start with these random pieces of wood, and you get this beautiful thing that people are amazed at.”

The camaraderie of the group lends to the highly charged atmosphere on the stage. They all seem to work well together, easily pipe up with suggestions, and are quick to lend a hand. It’s a welcoming environment to many, says sophomore Nathan Genrich.

“You get to hang out with some really cool people,” he says. “You make friends fast here.”

Typically, work on a theater set wouldn’t start until at least the beginning of the school year. However, after seeing the designs for the castle set last spring, the students got really excited, Mr. Miller says. They convinced him and lighting and sound director Mark Smith to get started during the summer.

He didn’t want to do it at first, he says, but, “when you have kids that are begging to work … I’m not going to stand in their way.”

So, the group started heading in to the theater on Fridays and Saturdays way back in August. On a bunch of those Saturdays, they’d work all day and then fire up the grill and eat together. Once school was back in session, they began a schedule of two nights a week and kept up with the long Saturdays.

The students have given it their all, and the results are sure to impress the crowds come November. And the experience has created lasting memories for many involved.

“The set has blood on it … it’s the best thing ever,” Mr. Genrich says. “I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

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