Scenes ranging from arguing about Shakespeare to making it big in New York are at the core of the Theatrical Showcase, which ran last weekend.
Mike Pierson, director and Musical Theater instructor, says he and his co-director Holly Kerns, Advanced Acting teacher, develop a process for choosing an over-arching theme for the whole performance and then look at different scenes that will fit with the theme but also will work with the actors skill sets. The cast has put together nine different scenes from a variety of musicals combined to follow one main theme. This year’s theme was “show business.”
“We, as a staff, have worked hard to find the scripts and music to put this together,” Pierson said. “Each student is taking ownership of their many roles they are playing.”
Freshman Dani Barnes took Musical Theater class this year and had taken acting classes prior to high school. She appeared in three scenes and loved being able to play different characters. Barnes wanted the audience to be able to get just a grasp of what it was like in theater.
“It’s really cool to show the audience how hard theater really is and to get to show them kinda a behind the scenes almost but also be doing the show at the same time,” she said.
Barnes couldn’t be more thankful, she said, to have made an incredible amount of friends in theater, who she can be serious with when they need to be, but also are able to goof off.
“In one scene, we have to do a British accent, which is just hilarious, and we all die laughing because we can never get it right,” Barnes said, “but seriously can’t even tell you how many new friends I’ve made and how many people I’ve gotten so close to because of how much time we’ve spent on this showcase. It’s crazy but fun.”
Junior Grace Jonas was also excited to perform this as the last show of the year. Jonas, who played in “God, I hate Shakespeare” from Something Rotten, thinks this was a great opportunity.
“You get to be so many different characters because there isn’t the same few characters,” Jonas said, “so you really get to grow as an actress and singer because each song you’re a different person, and it’s challenging. This is really a great last bonding time with the seniors before they go. Out of all the plays throughout his year, this is the first showcase. What a better way to end the year with something new?”
Junior Sarah Merrifield thinks the theater department couldn’t have ended the year in a better way.   “This is what everyone’s been working for all year throughout these classes,” said Merrifield, who played in a scene apart from all of the chorus numbers with four other people called “Opening Doors” from Merrily We Roll Along, “so it’s a culmination of how everyone has grown in the class.”
Merrifield has realised having this showcase is a great resource for the freshmen to experience so young to prepare them for their future. She thinks the advanced acting class and seniors in both are able to help and mentor the young and aspiring actors in musical theater for in the future. Being able to have different experiences of acting in Merrifield’s life has helped her grow as an actress.
“The guidance of the directors and choreographers that we work with have helped me immensely,” Merrifield said.  Pierson agrees with Merrifield, he thinks the students are able to develop a wide range of characters that the students can utilize for in the future.
Having never of  played multiple roles in completely different scenes was challenging for Merrifield but was able to get through it with help of her peers. Pierson along with Merrifield, also thinks the showcase is a culmination of all the skills the students have been developing throughout the year.
All different levels of acting and ages get to all come together and work on what they share a passion for, and that’s what keeps them working as a family.
“Everything goes a lot smoother because, I mean, these are classes that you’ve had all year working together and getting close,” Barnes said. “We know how to help each other and  build each other up since we’ve watched each other all year long and we know how to support one another as a group to make a great show, and I think having that background of being  together will help a lot for making the show smoother to show an audience and just making it really have that group feeling that theater is all about.”