Brody Hoff
Sugar Beet staff reporter
To put on four productions or not to put on four productions, that is the question. In the past years the theater department has performed two productions every year for the high school. This year, they will perform four. These productions range from Shakespeare to Bob Fosse, modern concepts to original concepts, and musicals to plays. Barbara Hilt, the director of these productions, stressed just how much time both directors and students apply to this process.
“We work all through the week and put in work on the weekends,” Hilt said. “We spend a lot of time here, but its what it takes, we love what we do.”
The theater department will be debut with “Hamlet”, which was cast in May of last school year so that students would have time to work on the memorization of their parts and lines over the summer. “Hamlet”, will be performed on Sept. 27, 29 and the 30. After “Hamlet” they will perform “Pippin” the musical on the 9, 10 and 11 of Nov.. Auditions for “Evita” (another musical) will follow on November 26, and 27. “Evita” will then play March 1, 2 and 3. The final play for the year will be “The Heart of Robin Hood” on April 25, 26, 27 and 28. Both “Evita” and “The Heart of Robin Hood” will be performed by the advanced Repertoire Theatre class. The technical theatre crew is currently working on designing the set for “Hamlet”, which they will have to finish in less than two weeks. After building finishes, they will be learning their backstage in-perfomance jobs. The tech crew must make sure all technically aspects of the production are perfect to keep the production running smoothly. Arihn Quinene, an arts and communications senior explained the depth of the production “Hamlet.”
“Hamlet is a show about choices and how complicated life is,” Quinene said,” The production addresses all the emotions in the spectrum of life. It’s been a really important journey as an actor because this is such a complicated piece and really builds on the base of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ It is a common misconception that Shakespeare is as hard to understand as everyone thinks.”
Theatre productions are also very stressful for the students participating. Leorenz Altamirano, trade and health senior, noted how the productions are always worth it in end.
“I feel like it’s very stressful and sometimes gets in the way of other school activities or my personal life,” Altamirano said.” But after perfoming it’s very worthy of the time invested. By the end of a production, you’ll wish you could start it from the beg”, Leorenz Altamirano, trade and health senior, said.
Brody Hoff is a health and trade academy student, contact him at Hoffb@student.gckschools.com.
Garden City High School 