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Programs join forces, put on crowd pleasing musical By Alexis Lane
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howtime! The Green Valley Theatre department performed the production “Into the Woods,” originally written by James Lapine and composed by Stephen Sondheim, on Feb. 6-8, and 13-15. The plot of the musical follows a baker and his wife as well as several other fairy tale characters venturing into the woods, each with their own goal in mind. The students worked hard to maintain the reputation that the dpartment has sustained for years. “We take into consideration the huge legacy and reputation in the theatre, and it puts a lot on our shoulders, so that pushes us to be our best. Everyone in the theatre has to be responsible for their own things. Everyone has to be self-reliant,” senior Mara Davis said. Students rehearsed every day after school starting at 2:30. Early on in the rehearsal process, the cast would stay as late as 5:00. In the weeks leading up to the show, however, rehearsals would last until as late as 8 p.m. They worked tirelessly, doing full runs in their costumes and rehearsing different acts until they perfected their work. “We don’t just rehearse something until it’s right, we rehearse something until it’s perfect and it can’t be done wrong,” senior Mara Davis said. Putting on the production was a stressful process. Unlike many of the theatre’s performances, it was not just theatre students; there were technical theatre students, choir students, and an orchestra to help put together the production. All of the departments were reliant on each other to create the musical, and the cast was much smaller than their previous productions this year. Nearly everyone had an important role in the play, so all of the actors need to be put on microphones. The actors needed their props from tech, tech needed sound effects from the orchestra, and the orchestra helped play the music for the actors/choir to sing along to. “Our musical is theatre, technical theatre, choir, and orchestra, so that
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is a lot of people working together to make one thing happen. It’s a department-wide effort, everyone has to do their part to make it happen,” theatre advisor and director Jennifer Hemme said. Although the actors are the only thing the audience see, a lot goes on
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We don’t just rehearse something until it’s right, we rehearse something until it’s perfect and it can’t be done wrong.
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Mara Davis
behind the scenes with the lights, microphones, and props that help the actors succeed. The tech students are responsible for taking care of the actors’ microphones, stage lights, props, and plenty more that are key components for making the production work. Before every rehearsal, sound technicians are in charge of putting microphones on the actors once they are fully dressed. Then they line everyone up to test them out and check for any problems in their microphones before they begin rehearsing. “The actors have microphones so that you can hear them over the music, and I control the levels of the volumes of the mics along with the music so you can hear them, and they sound good without any other disruptions,” senior sound technician Jessica Fellows said. The tech’s jobs are also to help take care of the costumes, which sometimes requires making the costumes themselves such as their accessories,
dresses, or suits that need to be worn by the actors. The process of making props can be difficult as well because they have to create whole sets much bigger than the students themselves which requires scaling, putting together, and painting the props. Some of the sets seen in plays were made entirely by students. Along with helping put the play together, they actively participate in shows with controlling the lights and the microphones. The lighting technicians are a key role during the play because of the singing. Singers have their solos, and it is up to the light crew to take care of the spotlights to help draw attention to the actors. “Theatre is both actors and technicians. We set up the props before the scene, it’s not the actors making all their clothes or putting things together. Some of us knit and put it all together. Some of the scarves seen in ‘Into the Woods’ were knitted by the students, along with the houses and sets in general are painted by technicians, everything is put together by technicians,” senior Madilyn Munoz said. Along with the stress of theatre, a good portion of the theatre students are also in the school’s Madrigal choir, sometimes making it more dif-
ficult. Although they are busy, they gave a lot of positive contributions to the musical. “Into the Woods” is known to be a more challenging musical because of the singing parts. Because they are more experienced in singing, it puts them at a big advantage when learning their parts. The choir students were able to help a lot in that department and help the students who were not in choir with their parts where they had to sing. Their own singing abilities contributed to the show. Specifically, for the newer actors who had to play since the play required a lot of vocal pieces be performed. “I came into this show with a better understanding of how to sing certain things a little bit easier,” junior Brendan Stephens said. “The music for this show is actually pretty hard, there’s some really difficult things. So having been in choir, it’s definitely helped me learn the musical a lot faster.” Their tireless effort and countless hours put into their department all pays off with their outstanding productions put on during the year from both the actors and technicians. Both departments make amazing shows from their talent and hard work that go into all their musicals. Cherie Franklin
Got milk? - Sophomore Cash Freeman and senior Mara Davis rehearse the show’s opening on Feb. 6. They prepared for the show in full costume and makeup.
