Spring plays prepare for weekend performances

Next week, the drama department will be presenting a series of short performances for their spring performance. The rehearsal process has changed due to the ongoing pandemic, with shortened rehearsals and social distancing guidelines in place. 

One of the key performers, Junior Ella Stineman, said that while the rehearsal process has been drastically different, it is still fun to interact and act with her castmates. “My favorite part of rehearsals and being offstage and practicing either lines or trying to find who my character is to make it my own,” Stineman said. “It’s so fun to experiment and to come up with your own ways to make the part you’re given original. I have to be honest, sometimes we get a little off task from laughing so hard, but it ends up making us better and more bonded to each other as a cast and crew.”

Junior Charis Crozier plays multiple roles, all of which have been approached differently due to the new rehearsal guidelines. “I am in two different one-acts of this show. In one of them, I am quite literally an anonymous user, that’s for Bullies Anonymous. They are an edgy teen character that’s in love with one of the other members for some reason. It’s kind of wacky. For the other one act I am in, I play Tasha, another bully. She is stuck up and snotty and the exact kind of person you want to avoid, but she’s popular, so you can’t really avoid her,” Crozier said. “Normally my favorite part of practice is getting to interact with my fellow castmates and forge those meaningful relationships, but that hasn’t really happened on this show. With how everything is set up, it’s really hard to interact with anyone outside of your show, and most people are in other things at the same time, so it can get pretty lonely when not on stage. I guess this was by design so there would be smaller casts and less mingling for COVID’s sake, but it doesn’t make it suck any less. I’d say this go around, my favorite thing about practices this time is the 10 or so minutes before practices actually start when we’re all hanging out getting snacks. It’s the one time everyone gets to be together.”

Another cast member, junior Emma DeGroote, said that while the performances are of separate pieces and plays, they all unite together under one common theme. “All of the one-acts focus around bullying. There are some pieces that are comedies, some that are a mix and a few very serious pieces,” DeGroote said. “We also have two songs, ‘Nicest Kids in Town’ from Hairspray and ‘Pandemonium’ from Putnam County Spelling Bee. Overall, there’s a great mix of different materials, and I think the audience will be entertained the entire time.”