BY JULIA BARTLETT
PC: Stonehilltheatre
Lights dim down on the stage, the curtains are drawn, and the room is silent. The lights slowly brighten up the stage and the curtains pull back to show a wooden tower looming over an empty audience. Actors sit sporadically throughout the theater, rehearsing lines, practicing songs and having costume fittings.
“I would say (I rehearse) around 15 hours a week with both rehearsal time and outside preparation,” said Mary Whelan, a junior who plays the Witch.
The Stonehill Theater company is putting on the Musical Into the Woods for their spring musical this year. The cast and crew are currently preparing for their show for the weekend of April 20.
Hours have already been put into working on this show, through the actors working on their lines and the crew building the sets and the directors putting together this fantastical world.
“A week, I’m usually putting in around 10-15 hours, but it grows as it gets closer to the show to probably around 20-25 hours a week,” said Callie Silvey, a sophomore, playing Florinda, one of Cinderella's stepsisters.
Many of the cast and crew plan on pursuing theater in their life and have been a part of it for so long that they can't see their life without performing.
“I’m hoping to continue with theater in the future. I’ve been involved in theater since I was in kindergarten, so it’s been a huge part of my life since I can remember,” said Silvey.
“I am a Performing Arts major with a concentration in Theatre, but this is also for fun,” said Shannon Labuza, a senior, playing the narrator in the show.
At the same time, others are drawn to theater for fun and find it a good way to make friends.
“I am not a theater major or minor, I have a music minor, but this is definitely something I do for fun rather than because of my studies,” said Whelan.
“I do not plan on pursuing theater professionally, but I will definitely still do it for fun,” said Olvia Vezinaa, junior, who plays the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods.
Throughout the year’s theater has helped students express and find themselves in many different ways.
“Before getting into theater as a kid, I was incredibly shy and quiet. After theater I totally came out of my shell and I genuinely believe that theater has shaped me into the person I am today. I would not be nearly as involved as I am at Stonehill without theater,” said Vezina.
“It has been a way for me to make friends, to express myself, and has genuinely been so much fun,” Whelan said.
“Theatre has given me a place to channel my creativity and feel comfortable being myself,” said Labuza.
Many have been performing since when they were kids and have done numerous shows to get to this point in their life.
“I started doing shows when I was young and I loved it because it combined singing and dancing and was a great creative outlet for me,” said Whelan.
“I’ve done 21 productions so far, both acting and technical, with my most recent being Lilith in She Kills Monsters at Stonehill,” said Silvey.
While many of the actors have been putting in the work for their parts in the musical to memorize lines and songs, the directors have been mapping how they wanted to have the musical presented to their audience.
Director and Professor Derek Martin has been planning the musical since December of last year, and auditions for the show began in February of this year.
“(It’s) usually a two day process with a three to four hour call back, then after I have a list and sit down with the music director and head of the department,” Martin said.
Martin first came up with the idea of how the sets will represent the fantastical world and transition it into a more realistic way of life early on, as it was important that the sets resemble the central theme and metaphors of the show.
The sets and costumes are “colorful and saturated,” and slowly, the audience will be able to see reality seeping through he said.
“The characters are dealing with the reality of after the ‘Happily Ever After',” said Martin.
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