Of Making a Show

  On February 16 through 18, LHS opened the Little Theatre doors for their performance of “Of Mice and Men.” The people making this happen were behind the makeup covered characters and behind the scenes. Leading up to their main weekend production, they performed their show for the Liberty North theatre department the night of February 14, for LHS’ sophomores during the school day of February 15 and again that night for parents of the cast and crew.

   Before the productions takes place, these students work hard outside of school to train themselves on their particular interests not only for their own good, but the good of their teammates. This could mean working on memorization techniques, practicing hairstyles on friends, or learning technology.

   “I learned how to do the lighting mostly on my own,” sophomore Kyle Munden said. “I watched a lot of videos that taught good skills. I have to be able to look at the stage and make sure that important objects are not in dark spots and sometimes move the set around to get the lighting where it needs to be.”

  Leading up to the show, the cast and crew could be found spending their Mondays through Thursdays at the school for approximately four to five hours a night and that is excluding the time they put in during the weekends. This time is spent running lines, correcting the little imperfections and practicing scene transitions. Every little job is important.

   “My job is backstage crew,” senior Connor McKillip said. “Every time a scene ends, I will go out to revolve the stage and bring on the props for the next scene.”

   Performance after performance, the actors are not the only ones hard at work. Back stage, the costume and hair/makeup crew are ready for action with their sewing needles and hairspray. Head of makeup, senior Sydney McBee, kicks her creative mode into high gear as she experiments with the directions she is given.

   “Usually I decide the makeup that people will be wearing,” McBee said. “I then go to Mr. Johnson and ask him if it looks good or if anything needs changed. Sometimes he will tell me if he wants a specific person to look old, have a mustache, or something along those lines.”      

   The theatre department also has their volunteers to thank. Many parents donate their time to supervising the students, teaching them about their skills and providing them with proper food to keep them energized and ready to perform.

   “I’m just here to facilitate and help the costume crew pick out the costumes,” volunteer Kathy Jennings said. “I’m here to guide the students to finding what they need. Most of the costumes were found, but the students built all of the dresses for Curley’s wife. It is time consuming in that they have to find the right period of clothing to match the show.”

The Bell’s Review

   The cast of this production is very diverse. There are people who are in theatre, some who do choir and Max Wittman, who normally plays football but is acting in his first high school play. Even though this was his first play Wittman did an acceptable job playing Lennie, a mentally challenged character.

   Another unique cast member is Drake, senior Corben Phillips’ dog who played Candy’s dog. Nathan Moon is making his first break out appearance as a lead in this production playing George, a southern man who is a friend with someone who is mentally disabled. Moon did a good job of conveying real emotion for his friend Lennie.

   Kayla Hill did a wonderful job playing Curley’s wife, a southern wife that when people would talk to her after the play was done they didn’t even know that she was british and when she died everyone started to get emotional.

   Jake Islas played Slim, a laid back character and he did a good job leaving the impression that it’s okay to not worrying all of the time. Phillips played the older, wiser character Candy, breaking everyone’s heart during the scene when he realized he wasn’t going to get off of the ranch and have a better life.

   Moroni Lenhardt played Whit the character that tried to keep everything level headed also doing a good job bringing the calmness to the scenes that needed it.

   Andrew Cable played The Boss, a character that sounds just like it is but cable brought the attitude that this character needed. Elijah Nash played Crooks, the stable boy bringing all the sass that a great production demands. Cameron Prater played Curley the guy that thought he was all that and a bag of chips, Prater did a good job bringing the bad attitude that everyone loved to hate.

   Finally, Trevor Harr played Carlson the guy who if something was bothering him you would know. Harr did a good job of bringing this character to life by giving him a serious side but also bringing the comedy.

   The costumes seemed simplistic but were appropriate considering the setting of the play. The guys were dressed in plaid shirts and Kayla Hill, the only female cast member, wore simple yet beautiful dresses.

   Of Mice and Men is a drama but it has some comedy like every good drama should. However, many scenes got dramatic fast. There was one fight scene, a scene that involves Hill being “crushed” and thrown around by Wittmann and lots of realistic yelling. Another contributing factor to this drama is the fact that a real gun is used.

   “It’s difficult because we have a real gun that fires blanks. We have to get used to the gunshot,” Phillips said. “You know it’s scary but at the same time I was raised around guns so it hasn’t been as big as a challenge for me as it is for others.”

   Because the play is set in the 1930’s the language contains profanity. If an audience member was familiar with Of Mice and Men they would expect to mature language. For audience members not familiar with this production they may have been surprised to hear strong language in a school production. This is a high school production But is not a typical play.

One-Act

   The winter production is later turned into a one act play that will then be taken to competition and go up against other schools. How does this process work?

   “One Act is a theatrical event 45 minutes in length. For our One Act, we use our winter production and cut the script down to 30 minutes,” assistant director Michael Turpin said. “Additionally, we must set up our scenic elements, costumes, props, lighting and sound all within the 35-minute time frame.”

   The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHAA) is the competition that LHS takes it’s one act to every year. This project adds to the long development of the show. These process of getting the show ready has been going on since a week after the fall musical.