The preparation

The house seats in the theater are littered with the bags and jackets of cast and crew members as they practice for performance week of the one-act plays. The air is thick with an aura of excitement, anxiousness, and productivity as the bustle of work can be heard from backstage. With just one day of preparation left before opening night, tensions are high.

It’s been six weeks since production began, and everybody involved has been hard at work for many afternoons out of their days.

“It’s very stressful. It’s a lot of work, and the actors are tired. On Monday, we were in here for five hours.” said Harrison Karr, senior. “There always seems to be a problem that needs to be fixed.”

Karr, who works behind the scenes as the show’s lead sound technician, has worked as a part of the crew for every one act since his sophomore year. He enjoys what he does, and has fun with it.

The hard fought battle for an amazing show is not without its rewards, however. The performances are always overwhelmingly well received, and, in the end, everyone involved has a wonderful time.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s definitely rewarding on opening night to see people enjoying the shows.” said Karr. “In our comedy show with a lot of the sophomores, it’s clear they’re having a good time. We do it for the show, but we also do it because it’s fun.”

To keep things fun, the crew has many pre-show traditions. The cast has their own, the crew has their own, and there are even a few theaterwide traditions.

“Recently, we’ve desegregated the traditions. They were originally just boys and girls traditions, but we’re opening up and trying to make more accepting traditions for our gender neutral students,” Karr said. “We can’t tell you what they are though.”

“If we told you, we’d have to kill you.” said Nicole Szajner, senior, the head light technician.