Life behind the scenes of a University Theatre production begins months before the curtain rises on opening night.

The backstage workers for University Theatre’s production of the 1960s satirical musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” are no exception, and all too often they go unnoticed.

The costume, scenic and lighting designers, among others, began meeting and planning with show director Mechele Leon last April, months before Friday’s opening night performance.

“It’s been a great collaborative process,” Leon, assistant professor of theatre and film, said. “I worked with them, and they worked with me to develop the plans.”

Here’s a look at three students who work behind the scenes for “How to Succeed.”

Caleb Stroman, Costume and Makeup Designer

Caleb Stroman’s job as costume and makeup designer began last April, when he received the script for “How to Succeed.” Since he finished his 20 costume designs in early December, Stroman, College Station, Texas, graduate student, has been picking out fabrics, working with the University Theatre’s costume shop to create the costumes and making sure each actor’s and actress’ costumes fit just right, even down to the hem length.

It’s the little details that can make Stroman’s job challenging.

“You don’t think about those tiny details when you’re putting it on paper because everything can work on paper and you have no budget on paper,” Stroman said.

“How to Succeed” takes place in 1961. Stroman said it was difficult finding business attire that fit the time period, though he ultimately based some of his costumes on research and the television show “Mad Men.”

Although some of the suits in the play are vintage, other suits and dresses had to be made from scratch or modified from other costumes.

Stroman said he enjoyed designing because he preferred being backstage, and he liked helping the actors and actresses finalize their characters after they put on their costumes.

“They usually have their character fleshed out,” Stroman said. “But once they put on that suit, that’s when they’re like ‘Here it is. That’s the tiny link that I’ve been missing.’”

Dress rehearsals and opening night are the busiest time for Stroman, who must help his crew with wigs and makeup for the actors while answering questions about colors of nail polish, fixing broken belts, and making sure the actors’ hair has the right 1960s “swoop.”

Despite the hectic production period, Stroman said he felt rewarded when he saw the finished product at last week’s dress rehearsals.

“I’d never seen all the costumes, let alone all onstage with the brilliant lights and the set with all the colors,” he said. “It was exciting to see everything together.”

Tammy Keiser, Scenic Designer

A game board, cookie cutters and the work of artist Piet Mondrian all inspired Tammy Keiser’s set design for “How to Succeed.”

Keiser, Blue Spring, Mo., graduate student, wanted the set to have a game-board feel because of musical’s story line. She painted the set in a boxed style of painting, based on Mondrian, an artist who worked close to the musical’s time period.

Though Keiser did not use the same bright colors that Mondrian preferred, she said the duller shades of blue, purple and gray that she chose expressed the rigidness of the 1960s business world.

“I wanted the prison look because the people are stuck here,” she said. “I painted it flatly because it’s a flat, Wonder-Bread world.”

Keiser also included life-size “cookie-cutter” figures of people within the set.

Using steel beams, she designed a two-story high office building, complete with cubicles.

“The cubicles were important to keep the idea of the office going while all the other fun stuff was going on in the front of it,” Keiser said.

The University Theatre’s scene shop built the set in less than three weeks because the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall was being used for other shows.

Keiser has received several awards for her costume and scenic designs, and she has been involved in more than 100 shows in community theater programs and at the University.

She said she enjoyed designing for musicals such as “How to Succeed” because they aren’t limited by reality.

“Musicals always need to have more flash and pizzazz and color than real life because it’s not real so you get to bump it up,” Keiser said. “They’re fun to do because you have no reality to worry about.”

Ann Sitzman, Lighting Designer

Ann Sitzman has spent more than three years designing lights for University Theatre, and “How to Succeed” is her fifth production.

After talking with Leon, the director, about his vision for “How to Succeed,” Sitzman, Prairie Village senior, began planning the lighting based on the costumes and set design.

She spent more than six weeks hanging, focusing and choosing all the colors for the lights.

Sitzman said her primary challenge was working lights into the large set. She wrote the lighting cues for the production based on the script and developed plans for what lights should turn on and in what color.

During the course of the musical, Sitzman has built in 175 lighting cues and sequences, and she said she was pleased with the final product.

Sitzman has won awards for her lighting design, including placing second at January’s Kennedy Center American College Theater regional festival for her lighting design in last season’s “The Bald Soprano.”

Sitzman said the hardest part of being the lighting designer was successfully collaborating with the other designers to unify all aspects of the show.

“It’s like manipulating the mood in a way you don’t usually get to,” Sitzman said. “I’m watching the show and fixing it the way I want in order to make it successful.”

— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe