Students work hard on school plays

LANCASTER - It's not easy participating in a high school play or musical, as Lancaster High School students in the recent performance of "Done to Death" found out.

They started putting in long hours in August to prepare for the performance along with keeping up with their school work. Students spent four hours a day, and even more on some days, working on the play.

A number of area schools perform school plays each year, and in each case, the students end up putting in a lot of extra work to make them happen.

From the stage

"It's a lot of work," Lancaster High School senior Ciara Clemons said. "You have to be able to manage your time. Study halls help a lot and just being able to go through and divide time for classes and homework. And whenever you get homework, just automatically doing it in class if you have time. And doing it after rehearsal and getting it done. You find time. It's definitely harder."

Clemons shared the role of Jessica Olive with another senior, Celia Duffy. Duffy said even though the work was hard, it was worth it. She made her LHS debut in a musical last year.

"I love to perform," Duffy said. "I was just always scared to audition and then last year I finally did it. And I'm really glad I did. I love it."

LHS theater director and social studies teacher Stephan Mathias said there is no theater program or class at LHS, unlike at some other schools. It is an extracurricular activity like sports, meaning the students get no academic credit for theater. But that is not an issue for senior Brenton Leuboy, who played Whitney Olive in "Done to Death."

"I've been doing this since freshman year," he said. "My brother, when he was in high school, he was in theater. And so I saw that and heard his experience from doing that and how much fun it was. So it made me really want to try it."

Leuboy played football before entering high school and becoming involved in theater.

"I've learned a lot," he said. "You learn a lot of special traits that you need to do in life. You learn how to handle interpersonal relationships, like with getting to know and learn more about the people that you're associated with between cast and crew. You learn memorization techniques and you figure out what's good for you. There's so many things that you benefit from and learn from being in theater."

Duffy and Leuboy said they both want to get into community theater once they graduate from high school.

It's not just the actors and actresses who work hard, as assistant stage manager Tia Dauterman would no doubt attest. She helps find props, helps with costuming, decorating the set and other backstage duties, along with making sure the production runs smoothly.

"We have to think about what are they (cast) going to be wearing, what props they are going to be carrying on and off," Dauterman said. "You have to be responsible for what's on and what's off of stage. So you really have to put a lot of thought into what we need, what do we have, what don't we have. It's a lot of small tedious things that you have to make sure are in order."

But she said all the work is worth it.

"Yes, absolutely," Dauterman said. "I love doing it and I think it's a lot of fun. Because I'm backstage and I don't get to see it. But I can hear the audience laughing, and it's worth it. Like, we did the musical last year and we had fairy-tale photos at the end. And there was a kid so excited that he met Shrek. And he didn't want to leave. It was just the cutest thing and it made it all worth it."

Ariana Hayes is the sound director and said her position is stressful but fun. She said the biggest challenge is making sure all the microphones work properly.

"And sound effects, obviously," she said. "Because if those don't match up, it kind of falls apart."

Sharing the work

Mathias said the students do everything related to the a production, including building the set. But all the work is under Mathias, who has directed school productions since 1989. He moved to the high school in 1991 from Thomas Ewing Junior High School. Mathias said it takes a lot of time and a lot of money to put on a high school play or musical.

"People don't understand what goes into a production," he said. "Because it's not just putting kids onstage and saying, 'OK, this is what you do.' You have to pick a play you think the kids will like. You have to pick out a play about who you think will audition. Because I don't know who will get what (part). But I do know that there are certain kids that could play certain parts. Then I bring in a group of people in, volunteers and teachers, and then we audition."

Mathias said he must pick a play that will interest students enough to audition.

"Because then you're stuck," he said. "Because a lot of these things you have to get the rights for well in advance. We're doing (Monty Python's) 'Spamalot' in the spring. And to get that we had to reserve it last year for this coming year. So there's a lot of planning. A director now has to think of who their kids are, will they be able to do it, are the vocal ranges there? You don't pick who it is, but you make sure you've got enough of a group that you can pick from. So your choices kind of go with that."

And there is the aforementioned financial factor, of course. Mathias said putting on a play or musical is expensive and a basic production can cost around $4,200 to $4,500 when rights and setting and other costs are factored in. Those expenses can also include finding clothes, props, hats and even shoes for those students who don't have dress shoes.

The rewards

While LHS theater students don't get academic credit, they can earn rewards from the International Thespian Association.

"It's a National Honor Society for theater," Mathias said. "So when you're in a production you get X amount of points and the points get you rewards. Like you get medals, pins, you get certificates. That's kind of the one thing they really work for. It's a very serious thing. It's not easy to get those points."

LHS students also get letters for participating in theater like students who participate in athletics get.

Mathias said the theater program also helps the students prepare for college.

"What they're capable of doing is going into an interview for college and talking as if they've got some kind of intelligence," he said. "They have practiced talking to people, listening, which is a big deal in theater. You've got to listen before you can say anything else.

"And the skill of being able to present in front of a large group of people and not be nervous really benefits these guys through any project and any university thing that they do. And those that are backstage have those organizational skills that's going to benefit them forever. You can't detract the positive things they get from being backstage or onstage."

Some go onto theater programs in college, although that may not always be easy because of the competition involved.

"I always tell the kids that theater is a great thing to do, but it's a stinky business," Mathias said. "It is a cut-throat business when you get into it. And when they get into colleges and universities, sometimes they like it and sometimes they don't. I would say probably over the number of years, I would say maybe 10 percent actually go on to try to maybe do something in theater. They may end as a teacher, may have ended up as on English teacher, or something like that. It's tough. It's a tough business to do that."

Here is a look at upcoming scholastic theatrical or musical productions in Fairfield County:

Lancaster: The school's next performance will be a musical of Monty Python's "Spamalot" on April 7, 8 and 9.

Fairfield Union: Students will perform "Mary Poppins" on March 18 and 19.

Liberty Union: The school will present a production of "Annie" on March 18, 19 and 20.

Amanda-Clearcreek: Will present "Just Another High School Play" on April 8 and 9.

Fisher Catholic, Fairfield Christian Academy and Millersport plan to have a musical but the productions or dates have not been determined.

Bloom-Carroll will not have a high school production, but instead will present a third through eighth-grade musical of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" March 17, 18 and 19.

jbarron@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron