Students take on more than leading roles in 'Guys and Dolls'

CHILLICOTHE – There is a quote in the theater world, "there are no small parts, only small actors."

From the lead to the background dancers, everyone has an important role in a show. But students in Chillicothe High School's production of "Guys and Dolls" are taking leadership beyond their on-stage roles.

Senior Heather Anderson was selected as student chorale director for the production. In addition to learning her own role as General Matilda Cartwright, Anderson was charged with the task of making sure the vocals were performance ready.

"The biggest struggle is making sure that I had time to get what I needed to get done as well as lines and blocking and making sure everyone else was taken care of as far as knowing their vocal parts and feeling comfortable," Anderson said.

But this challenge is one that Anderson knew from her freshman year she was going to undertake.

"Coming in as a freshman I learned how the underclassmen really look up to the seniors. And then from there I knew I wanted to take that leadership role so that I could not only be someone to direct but also be someone the other kids could go to if they needed something, musically or not," said Anderson.

"She really went above and beyond on this one," co-director Geoff Smith said of Anderson's work. "They all realize that if one person isn't pulling his or her weight, then it drags everybody else down."

Rehearsals were broken up into "guys" and "gals" for a majority of the winter, so students like Anderson, were delegated to help the directors with details of the show. Student were chosen to direct stage management, vocals, choreography, and box office sales.

The rehearsals were split until about two weeks ago when the groups were brought together to start piecing together the full picture.

"It was sort of easy to divide the rehearsals up into 'guy' days and 'girl' days so that it was really a smooth rehearsal process," Smith said. "It's kind of like putting a puzzle together."

Co-director Mala Kennard had experience with this rehearsal format, having directed "Guys and Dolls" before in 2002.

"At this point we sort of hand the show over to the students and say 'it's yours,'" Kennard said.

Now that it's time to put all the pieces together, student performers are not alone in taking on important off-stage roles. Students are also working backstage, designing and preparing the sets, running light and sound boards, and playing in the orchestra pit.

"Our students are not only talented on the stage but they can hold positions of leadership too. It's pretty much a hands-on production for them," Kennard said.

"It really shows the vocal talent and the leadership that we have... and every role is important," Anderson said.

If you go...

When: May 8-9, 7 p.m.

Where: Chillicothe High School Auditorium