“Blink.” As soon as the final lights shut off on the LHS Drama Club performance of Mamma Mia!, actors were not thinking of their performance, or even their family waiting out in the audience, they were already shifting gears towards the anticipation of at that time, next year’s production.
The LHS Drama club has something that no other LHS club possesses, anticipation. Each year the drama club performs a yearly musical, revealing their show in the Spring. For actors, the show they are working on is like a full fledged addiction. During the production process they dedicate their whole lives to their characters. It is no wonder that they are anticipating the plot of their newfound lives.
“With high school theater, at the end of the day, it’s getting the kids to do what they want to do,” director Noah Payeur said. “We just want students to be interested enough to audition for the show, you have to think, ‘What can I sell to this year’s community’.”
Much more goes into the choosing of the year’s production than one may expect. The directors Danielle Loshiavo and Payeur spend weeks considering everything, from types of students, musical capabilities, and general interests amongst the crowd.
“You don’t ever pre cast a show,” Loshiavo said. “But you have to kind of know what types of students that you already have and what they may be interested in.”
Students flooded the room of this year’s first Drama meeting, where the show was to be announced. Senior Hanna Carroll, who played Donna in last year’s production of Mamma Mia!, looked forward to this event, knowing how exciting the directors make announcing the productions.
“Noah Payeur announced it by having pictures of shows on the wall and he would take down those that aren’t this year’s musicals,” Carroll said. “He joked around, and took Footloose off, but then he revealed it after all the other ones were taken, there’s a lot of anticipation.”
The reveal of Footloose got great feedback, as they had predicted, and got many students interested in auditioning, especially underclassmen.
“We had over 30 students audition,” Loshiavo said.“Including many newcomers which is great for us, and especially since COVID, the numbers haven’t been the same as they were in the past.”
The directors attribute a lot of their newfound actors to the great success of last year’s production, Mamma Mia!.
“I think Mamma Mia! was the big draw,” Payeur said. “It was fun, and the audience was all into it. Footloose is a very similar type of musical, jukebox, songs that people know, and have seen the movie. It got people to be like, ‘oh my gosh they do really, really cool shows, maybe I’ll try out next year’. So maybe Footloose wasn’t the biggest draw, but last year they really worked it up.”
Auditions for Footloose took place the week of November 11, bringing nerves and new experiences for many. The audition process is long and full of many tasks, which help prepare actors for the actual rehearsals. The process consists of an informational meeting, an optional workshop, and suggestions of songs that actors can use to audition with.
“Audition week is almost as exciting as the week of our performance,” Loshiavo said. After [preparations] were out of the way, they could choose which day to audition, and then call backs were on the Thursday of parent teacher conferences.”
After auditions week had come to an end, the cast list was released, gifting some actors the role of their hopes, and others a small let down.
“Though we didn’t have to cut any students this year, we had some students that would like to be in certain roles that we can’t have them fit. So it’s always difficult to make those decisions.”
On the cast list, two familiar names reappeared as the leads, Carroll and senior Mason Turek. Turek appearing as Ren McCorkmack, and Carroll as his love interest, Ariel Moore. Caroll and Turek contributed to Mamma Mia! as leads last year as well, but played very different types of characters.
“I am hopeful that they are able to bring a different aspect to the roles this year,” Loshiavo said. “This year they are very different types of characters, so hopefully they’ll be able to work together well, which they did last year, and keep up the great stage chemistry.”
With the return of Turek as a lead, he will also be returning as the co-choreographer along with his partner senior Maddie Tufts. The two have already mapped out some scenes, which were used in the auditions process.
“Mason and Maddie did an amazing job last year,” Loshiavo said.“They really work together great, I don’t doubt they won’t be amazing this year.”
All of the returning actors are all there for the same reason, passion, and the directors are thrilled to see their passion shine through this season.
“I mean, one of the big messages in Footloose is, you know, fight for what you believe in,” Payeur said. “That’s a message that we always want the students to take away. To be completely honest with you, drama club is not the coolest thing to do in high school, so even just these students and their ability to put themselves out there, in an environment that’s probably not the most accepting, is making a change.”
