Blocking and lines

Spotlight players tell about the current state of the fall play

Whitney Klein

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Kana Chung

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Theatre kids preparing for rehearsal by doing improv. At this time, their director Ms. Stallard is meeting with her crew heads and directors to make sure the show is going well.

Brooklyn in the 1940s. A Victorian house. And a family of elderly people. All components of what will be an amazing play come this fall. The Spotlight players are working hard to bring to life the work of playwright Joseph Kesselring, “Arsenic and Old Lace”.

“You can look forward to some creepy stuff, some funny stuff, some straight up goofy stuff. It’s not what you think it’s gonna be,” said Senior Sage Russell, one of the actors in the upcoming performance. “I am super excited because any show with old ladies has gotta be super fun, especially when it’s a bunch of high schoolers; it just makes it a lot different than what you would normally see in one of our productions.”

Only a few weeks into production, and things are going better than any cast or crew could have hoped.

“It’s going really, really well so far. We’re only on week three, and we’re already getting [blocking and and line memorization] done,” Russell said.

Even the parts that don’t run as smoothly create a fun challenge for the program, and are considered part of the play-producing process.

“It has been a little stressful. I run into problems, but my favorite part is the challenges. I learned to work around them,” said senior Emily West, head of set and crew for the production. “I like being more involved with the actual design and like having a vision and making an actual thing.”

Production work aside, the audience has one new thing to look forward to with this years fall production.

“We have lots of freshmen this year. There’s lots of new faces and lots of new talent,” said junior Ashleigh Bick-Dawes, co head of costume design for the play.

After it’s all been said and done, freshmen have become seasoned members of the theatre program, and everyone’s hard work will have been justified by a successful show.

“I’m excited about seeing the finished set up on stage; just looking at it and knowing that I did that and my crew did that. I think we’re going to be really proud of ourselves and it’s gonna look really cool.” West said.  

To find out more about the Spotlight Players, check out their Twitter here: