By Emma Braithwaite, Ella Ogburn, Cameron Piland and Kate Wasniewski, Nighthawk News
The house lights go down and a hush comes over the crowd. The curtains open and the stage comes to life. The excitement and anticipation bubble, and an audience member can’t help but wonder: How did this play come to be?
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the FFHS StageKraft group will be performing its first production of the year, “Peter Pan and Wendy.” Since mid-September, the cast and crew have worked hard to perfect this two-hour production, starting with auditions.
The directors – Lauren Deal, Monica Penn and Liz Wheless – refuse to pre-cast any positions. Although the students have their own suggestions, the casting decisions are based solely on auditions.
First, the students auditioning have to choose a monologue to prepare. Then the aspiring actors perform for the directors. After everyone has auditioned, the cast list is posted that night.
After the cast is chosen, rehearsals begin in late September. The actors have a lot to prepare for over the next two months, coming to rehearsals after school and taking time at home to learn and go over lines.
“You are around all of these other actors that do such an amazing job as well,” said sophomore Vada Clark, who plays Peter Pan. “And you can learn from each other and pick up on each other’s techniques.”
In the early days of rehearsals, individual scenes are broken down into specific details. But as the show nears, singular acts are rehearsed. In the final week, the full show gets run each day.
“The most challenging part is that sometimes I can see what it looks like in my head and getting it from my head onto the stage is a whole lot more challenging,” Deal said.
Striving for success on stage means a lot of people come together for rehearsals, but it can be hard for 27 people to be in one place at one time. Stage manager Morgan Deane has to find a way to put all the puzzle pieces together to get everyone present at rehearsals.
Cast and crew, volunteers and tech theater students alike participate in set days. Penn’s tech class builds the sets from the ground up, from sketching designs to constructing the backdrops. After a hard day’s work, stepping back to admire the progress the team has made to put everything together makes it all worth it.
“I love seeing the set or any props on stage coming together with the lighting,” said junior Joey Kepler, who is the light board director for “Peter Pan.”
If something looks a little off on the stage, Kepler can fix it, as key adjustments are critical for the show to come together.
“I will come up here and start fixing things and adjusting them and slowly you can just start to see the aspects of that set come together and become more pronounced,” Kepler said.
The last nine days are the most intense, with everyone trying to make sure every little detail is perfect before the big night. Late nights become the norm and focus is needed as opening night nears.
During show nights, dinner is held for the cast and crew. After dinner, the cast gets into character and begins to warm up, while the crew prepares to raise the curtain.
Many students perform pre-show rituals – everything from finding a relic to chant to, creating a petition that everyone signs, a secret handshake between the tech crew, and a chant between cliques backstage. Anything to try to calm the last-minute jitters running through their bodies. Finally, the curtain rises and the show begins.
“Then Mrs. Penn and I sit in the audience and cross our fingers and hope everything goes well, and the stage managers run the show up until the final bows,” Deal said.
Senior Emma Braithwaite can be reached at 23braithwaiteem06@daretolearn.org.
Sophomore Ella Ogburn can be reached at 25ogburnel65@daretolearn.org.
Sophomore Cameron Piland can be reached at 25pilandca25@daretolearn.org.
Sophomore Kate Wasniewski can be reached at 25wasniewskika33@daretolearn.org.
