The Show Must Go On...It Happened!

We rehearsed a few times throughout the day to prepare for our production of Table 12. The cast and crew were very nervous. For most of them, this was their first play in front of an audience. After a thoughtful pep speech by Ms. Brown to get the cast focused and ready, the crew was ramped up to put on their show for a large audience at the Winni Playhouse.

Putting on make up and getting our hair ready.

It was our Director's Ms. Brown's Birthday!

Almost Show Time!

Thank you to the Art and Science of Baking group for making our wedding cake to use as a prop in the play!!

Thank you to the bakers who made our cake!

The Show is Done!

The students put on an amazing show! They worked so hard this week and it paid off. Below are a some reflections written by the students. 

"My project week was awesome. Beginning of the week I thought it was going to be little bit boring but it turned out it was great. The people in our group were awesome and I had lot of fun. I love to act. It was really fun." - Ronja

"This project was not what I expected! I stepped out of my comfort zone and shocked myself with what I accomplished. To be completely honest, the first day or two I wasn't sure what I got myself into and was freaking out that I wouldn't be able to memorize my lines by Friday night when only getting the script on Monday. I was also scared to perform in front of a large group of people, which is what usually holds me back from doing these kinds of things. Even though the days were long, tiring, and felt like weeks in themselves, I had a ton of fun being with the cast and teachers throughout the whole week.  I had the opportunity to hang out with peers that I don't usually hang out with and I made a lot of new friends. I am beyond glad that I got to be a part of "The Show Must Go On." It made me realize what I am capable of and that I need to try new things more often." - Madi 

"This past week has been an absolute blast. I met a lot of new people and made some new friends. Everyone was hard-working and I enjoyed working with this group a lot. I was quite nervous about whether we were going to finish on time but we did it. And the result was pretty amazing! I am absolutely honored to have worked with everyone in the cast and the amazing faculty members. We totally rocked it!" - Wenhao

"The play was an unbelievable experience last night. Leading up to it, I don't think any of us were exactly sure how it was going to play out. My heart was racing as I took stage for the first time. And sure enough, in the first couple minutes, we somehow managed to skip ahead by 12 pages in our script...... Anyway, we played it off really well, and were quickly back on track. Everything turned out smoothly! It was such an awesome experience to be a part of. Not sure I would ever take on such a project voluntarily again, but definitely don't regret anything about it. It was a great week with a great cast and a great final performance." - Max

The Show Must Go On...One More Day To Go!

Today was tech day! We worked on our cues with light changes, music and props. It started to feel real as the stage came to life with the table decorated. 

Using props for the first time. 

 We took some time to practice our intermission show. It is going to be great! This brought some excitement and life into our actors before we took a break for lunch.

Rehearsing our intermission show. 

After lunch we had a few set backs, but The Show Must Go On. We took some time to play an improvisation game, The Hitchhiker. This gave our actors the opportunity to practice developing a story without using exact lines word for word. The idea was to build confidence in our actors in case they couldn't memorize all their lines for Table 12. However, everyone has been practicing so much and putting a lot of work into preparing for the show.

Playing an improv game. 

The actors tried on their costumes and we were able to go through the show twice. Tomorrow we have our show at 7pm at the Winni Playhouse. We are very excited but also very nervous. The morning will be busy with dress rehearsals. 

The Show Must Go On...Soon!! - Day 3

Our first day off script! The actors worked extremely hard to prepare for today. By the end of the day we were able to get through the script 4 times! For the first time, we rehearsed on the stage at the Winni Playhouse.

Ms. Brown giving the actors some dancing directions. 

 At one point in the play the actors get to dance, so as a part of the break, we rehearsed the dancing scene to the song, Shout. 

After a long day memorizing lines and rehearsing with props, we called it quits. We went out for dinner to the Holy Grail. 

Enjoying a night out after a long day rehearsing for the play. 

Tomorrow, we will continue rehearsing but will add in lights, costumes and props. Friday evening's show is coming up soon!

The Show Must Go On! - Day 2

The group worked hard today over at the Winni Playhouse. We started in the morning blocking Act 1. It took us the whole morning and we weren't able to get through the entire first act. However, the play was slowly coming together as the actors figured out how they were entering and exiting the stage, and how to behave as their character. We took a break for lunch, grabbed some props then headed back over to the Playhouse. We continued to block the rest of the play which took us to the end of the day. We did take a break to try on some costumes. The group did a great job today. Their homework for the night is to memorize their lines so we can be off script by tomorrow, and prepared for our production on Friday. 

   

Dancing to Sweet Caroline

Dancing to Sweet Caroline

Joe is getting into character.

Giving the "audience" a nervous look. 

Ronja trying on a dress for her character. 

Made trying on her wedding dress attire. 

The Show Must Go On!! - Day 1

Our day started traveling to the Winnipesaukee Playhouse and getting a tour of the theater. A highlight of the tour was going above the stage on the catwalk.

A tour of the catwalk at the Winni Playhouse

We also got a tour of the many dressing rooms and prop rooms. Our toured ended on the stage and we got a lesson about stage positioning. 

Learning about stage positioning

We were then led to a rehearsal room where we started to warm up. We did a few physical warm-ups to get our bodies going, then we did a few vocal warm-ups. We had some fun playing some improv games so our group could bond and get to know one another. Once everyone was warmed up, we started our auditions for the play. Students were asked to do some silly poses and read some lines from the play, Table 12.

Auditioning for Table 12

We returned to campus for lunch. Afterwards, we met in the school theater to cast the roles and have our first read through the script. Every student was given a role in the play. After the first read through, directions were given about each character so students could start to understand who they were playing. We started a second read through, but stopped mid-way through so we had enough time to check out the prop room. We found out that we needed to find some wedding attire for our actors and we were able to find a few things to use in the prop room. Tomorrow we may need to do some shopping to finish our costumes. We had a busy day getting to know the play, but the group did a great job jumping into this project and stepping outside their comfort level to dance, sing and be silly!

The Show Must Go On Group preps for their week together

The group met today to prep for their upcoming week together. The group reviewed the characters in the play, "Table 12." We discussed the itinerary and shared what we were excited for. Below are reflections by students in our group.

The Show Must Go On Project Group

"My thoughts for the upcoming week is that I am very excited. I am excited to make a play in a week. I am very nervous to present the play to the whole school. I am excited to learn about the play and the characters. Some goals is to learn how to stage manage. Also to learn how to get some props and make them. Also to step out of my comfort zone and learn how to act." -David

"I'm really excited for this project week. At the beginning when we started this project, I was a little nervous because I thought putting a play on in one week would be really complicated. I feel to make a play takes a really long time, but with the confidence of Ms. Brown and Ms. MacLeod, I feel we can get this done on time. My goals is to learn all of my lines perfectly and to make the audience laugh. I'm really excited to get to know this group of people that I don't really know well." -Miranda 

"I'm excited for the play. My goal is to have fun and to try my best to know my lines. I also look forward to meeting new people and working together to make something. I'm excited to know the character I will be playing. I'm looking forward to presenting in front of an audience." - Joe

"I'm excited for this because I just changed one of my classes to acting so now I know more things about acting. I'm really looking forward to this play. At the same time I'm nervous about memorizing the lines because English is not my first language. My goal for the week is to create a great show and have fun with the people in my group." -Ronja 

"I am very excited to return to the theatre again after the winter and fall play because I think the theatre teaches me a lot of things such as overcoming fear.  I know that the show and the whole process will be awesome. I really would like to play a lead role. That would be something new for me. My goal for project week is to develop acting skills, get a major role and improve upon my pronunciation. I am excited to act in the Winnie theatre, and learn more about acting." -Kym Khoa

"When I was in Korea I participated in a play, however it was in my native language so it was easy, but now this play is in English and it's my second language so I'm scared about memorizing scripts.   My goal is to understand the whole story and memorize my scripts as soon as possible. I'm also really excited for this because my friends were a part of a school play, and when I went and watched it, they look really awesome. Now I have a opportunity to do that. I really want to make our play look good. We only have 7 days so I will try to focus on this." -Yeryeong

"I am excited to perform this play but also nervous at the same time. My goals for "Table 12" is to get through it confidently with no mistakes. I hope to learn to relax on stage and not get all stressed out. I am excited to try something new that I am not completely confident about, and I believe this will be a great experience for me." -Lars

"I feel really nervous because this is the first time I have been in a play. I really enjoy the idea of being the stage manager because I feel the stage manager is really important role. The second goal is learn more about the experience of being on the stage.  I'm excited to step out of my comfort zone." - Zhen

"I'm pretty excited for the play. I've never done anything like this before, so it will be cool to see what being in a play is like. I am nervous about remembering my lines, but at the same time, I want to have fun with the project and make the most of the experience. Since the play is supposed to be funny, my goal is to try and make my character seem the funniest in the play, and get the crowd on their feet by the end. Lastly, I'm excited to get to know some of the younger class men of New Hampton, while also stepping and acting outside of the box." - Max 

"I'm excited, although I'm a little worried that people around me are nervous. I'm not really nervous. I've been in bigger productions before so I know how it works.  My goal is to go back to stage after a nice long break for winter and really rock this thing. I'm excited about working at Winni Playhouse for the first time." -Wenhao