It’s opening night and the audience sinks into their chairs as the main auditorium lights begin to dim. The spotlight shoots toward center stage as the 2009 Variety Show hosts simultaneously saunter onstage. The fans over enthusiastically cheer; they can’t help but contain their excitement. Once the show begins, the backstage crew strategically places themselves on various points so that they can aid the performers and make sure it runs smoothly. To the casual observer the construction and preparation that was put into producing the Variety Show dims in comparison of its eminence and they often forget how much really goes into it. “We have auditions, rehearsals, designs to choose, special effects to create, opening videos to shoot and the list goes on,” Variety Show advisor, Alfredo Pichardo said. With any great show comes a lot of hectic planning and frantic preparing, like what took place this past November, before the Variety Show. Besides the months it takes to hold auditions for hosts and performer, it takes just as long, and sometimes longer, to actually set up the entire production. After all the performers and hosts are chosen, it’s crunch time. For the hosts, they have to hold weekly meetings in order to write their scripts. After the script is done written, and proofed by Principal Wendy Doll, the hosts then have to set up a skit that matches the wittiness found in their humorous scripts. With less than a few weeks away from the debuting of the Variety Show, the hosts recite their lines and run their performances on a test audience so they can measure the reaction and from there determine what alterations must be made. With perfection a gleaming goal, the hosts push forward in the hope that this year’s Variety Show will more than exceed its previous years. “We all put a lot of work into creating the show,” senior host Andrew Bernis said. “I’m
looking forward to the positive feedback from the crowd.” Aside from the hardworking hosts are the diligent performers, who put their heart and souls into making the show the great success it is, year after year. Once they are chosen and put on the Variety Show lineup they then have to coordinate schedules so that each performer gets the same amount of practice in the auditorium. “We stay after school twice a week and have dress rehearsal everyday a week before the show,” senior performer Catherine Hippelheuser said. “Not only do I practice at school, but also at home.” Everything seems to be in full swing with less than one week to go; lines memorization is going smoothly and performance are being refined. Although the hosts and performers are the ones onstage, receiving the glory for the show, the real applause goes to those who work behind the scenes, because of them the show can go on. Each year the drama department helps out the senior class in making the Variety Show an admirable production. They construct the scene settings, run the technology, and make sure the show, as a whole, runs very smoothly. “We basically design whatever they ask us to,” senior Haley Yarborough said. “There is a lot of time and dedication involved, but we want to make sure it runs smoothly and that no mistakes are made.” The hosts prance offstage, and the audience rises to their feet in utter astonishment. The hosts and performers take a final bow and are thankful that they put so much effort into it. Backstage the crew hears the thundering applause and realizes their hard work and commitment had definitely paid off, even if they weren’t on center stage.