On Sept. 25, the Parkway North Theater Department will start the year off with the production: The Complete Works of Shakespeare.
The fall play will feature 38 plays by Shakespeare within 90 minutes. The scenes are going to be fast-paced and filled with lots of humor of the modern day while still relying on Shakespearean English.
“I hope they [the audience] take that Shakespeare is easier than they think it is; high schoolers have a hard time reading it, –it’s just the way it’s approached,” said Theatre Director Chad Little.
The students in the production began preparing and rehearsing for the play before the school year started and met most days after school for three hours.
“We started a little way before summer and had rehearsal once a month throughout summer.
Then school started and now we have it about each day,” said sophomore Sean McWeeney, who was part of the tech crew.
Since the play will be performed earlier than most of the other plays in the past, they had to rehearse over the summer and audition in May of the 2023-2024 school year.
“There are only three actors in the cast, and it is usually an all-male cast. For a program to continue to grow, you can’t just do a show with three actors, so I decided to do a boys cast and a girls cast. That way it can be the way it was originally written, and it allows us to look at the humor of what works for boys and what works for the girls,” said Little.
In addition to the six cast members, there are about 20 other members in the production including cast and techies. The members tend to build relationships and friendships with each other as they work so closely together.
“I like how I get to hang out with all my friends and be part of something that I enjoy. I enjoy show nights because I feel like that is when everything comes together and it’s just really a good time,” said McWeeney.
Actors and Tech Crew differ because the actors have to memorize their lines and know how and what to do at certain moments. Each actor has their own ways of memorizing and practicing outside of rehearsal.
“Sometimes I read my script before going to bed so that I can remember that (line,” said freshman Darrion Glover, who is part of the all-male cast.
The tech crew has to figure out how to depict what would fit in the scene and see how everything comes together in the end. Sometimes they may have to change an outfit because it does not fit the characters as much.
Actors can also have to change their lines if it works better for the scene or their character.
“I like how much I can do my own thing. A lot of the material isn’t about sticking to the script, but it’s about changing and making it unique,” said Max Banashek, who is the final member of the all-male cast.
The production’s first show performance will be in front of Parkway Northeast middle school students; here at Parkway North on Wednesday, Sept. 25 during school hours. This allows the actors to get a feel of how things will play out in front of a crowd. Other performances will be on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evening at 7 p.m.
“It’s a very fun show, you should come to see it… it’s going to be a really fun show to watch,” said Banashek.
