The clanking of hammers hitting the stage, the whirring sound of tools cutting through wood. Feeling the sawdust drape around your feet. Finally walking on stage to smell the sweet smell of sawdust and paint fumes succumb you senses. All of the above happens on a normal day for the crew and cast of The Little Mermaid.

   The Little Mermaid is the 28 Disney animated feature film and is largely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 Danish fairy tale of the same name, according to playbill.com the first onstage production of the movie was in 2008 and has been performed on broadway and many other stages ever since. 

   The countless jobs of the crew in this production include set painting, costume designing, prop making, and many more that most people don’t see from just looking onstage. 

   Senior Mary Bates has been involved in theater since fifth grade, and got into the tech and crew part sophomore year. For this year’s musical, she is the stage manager and scenic director. 

   “The process is really slow and it’s a lot of thinking ahead. Everything that happens onstage, and everything that happens off stage you have to keep track of,” Bates said. “It’s a lot of trial and error with finding what works, and what doesn’t.”

   According to brainstormproductions.edu, “Theatre in education allows students to explore challenging social scenarios and vulnerable emotions in a safe and supportive environment.”

   “My favorite thing about theater is probably that everyone gets accepted,” Bates said. “You have the loud kids, the weird kids and also the quiet kids all together, it’s the perfect place where if you don’t know where you belong, you definitely belong in theatre.”

   The theatre teacher and director of this year’s musical, is Katherine Gehrlein, has been performing since she was a little kid, but first started performing in high school. 

   “Theater is my passion,” Gehrlein said. “It means telling beautiful stories, it means connecting with each other, it means learning how to empathize and walk in other people’s shoes, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. Most importantly it helps us know ourselves the best.”

   The jobs that fall onto a director include holding auditions, casting the show, recruiting the cast, creating blocking; which is the movement on stage, and all around directing the cast towards a standing ovation worthy opening night.

   “It’s a lot of responsibility, the entire show falls on my shoulders,” Gehrlein said. “It’s a lot to coordinate and figure out, it means taking from page to reality. Its having a vision and knowing what that vision is and being able to articulate it to others so they can recreate the vision.”

   According to musicals101.com, most broadway musicals take around six to eight weeks to produce, but it makes sense for younger actors to take more time.

   “We cast the show the last week of Aug then we have all of September, all of October then the first full week of november is the production,” Gehrlein said. “We have just a bit over two months to get it all together.”

   According to backstage.com, Aside from the collaborative benefits, working on crew is a great way to make new lifelong friends, you also pick up new skills. 

   “We just have fun,” Bates said. “While were still working and being productive there’s a lot of messing around and joking with each other and becoming great friends.”

   For more information check out the theater social media’s @lpsfinearts, @blujaytheatre, and the fine arts page on the LHS website.