Play members reflect on personal takeaways from involvements

The fall play wrapped up in early November at Cedar Falls High School, and cast members reflected on the experience.

“I bonded with other cast members largely by virtue of just spending so much time together. Rehearsals run for hours at a time, so honestly, they just become your family. There’s also about 20 to 30 minutes before rehearsal starts when we are backstage eating snacks brought by a cast or crew member, just talking and hanging out. That time is so fun because there really is no pressure to do anything just yet, so we can just build our friendships and chill,” said Sophia Woods, a junior who played a townsperson. “I wasn’t expecting to get as close to some of the seniors as I did, given that I hadn’t had the chance to really talk with them before, but it was awesome to build those connections.“ 

Josiah Bailey, a senior who played the preacher and a guitarist, said, “Personally I bond with cast members through two main ways. One way is through the way I interact with them on the stage and the way that our characters interact within a scene and the second way is through hanging out and spending intentional time with the cast outside of play practice. I think one of the best aspects of a show that brings people together is the characters that you play and the way that you give and take on stage. If you are a good actor, you give someone else something to build off of as you go and that translates into real life as well. You learn to give and take and you go with it.” 

Senior Eli Flikkema said, “I was cast as the engineer. I really enjoyed the commanding atmosphere of my character because it pushed me outside of my comfort zone and allowed me to explore different aspects of various personalities. I’ve been performing in plays and speech events since eighth grade. I’ve done about one a year in that time. I felt great about this performance; it helped me step outside of my comfort zone and introduced me to a bunch of great people. It was great to get to know the sophomores and juniors that I hadn’t really interacted with before. Since many of my classes are with majority seniors, sometimes it’s hard to interact with younger students.”

Sophomore Natalie Olsen, who starred in Breaking Badly, said, “I was having a really rough time at the beginning, and two seniors helped me and got me through it, and I am infinitely grateful for them. They were there for me to talk to me, support me, and one of them even gave up their power hour to help me memorize lines. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without them. Statistics have actually shown that the environment we were in, the high pressure, working toward a common goal, are the perfect conditions for solid relationships. Plus, we all already have the play, and the love of theatre in common, plus the broad personality type that stereotypes the theater community (for good reason).”