Woodside High School’s fall show Choices just opened, and like the name suggests, the department did not present just one play.
As opposed to past years, this night of theatre will consist of ten one-act plays instead of the traditional two-act play. Many students believe this made the production process more complicated, but it also came with its advantages.
“The one-act shows are a really good opportunity to get a lot more people involved,” Zoie Orth, a senior who has performed in both kinds of Woodside productions, remarked.
Orth also noted that with the previous interest weighing heaviest in the senior class, the department could only benefit from all this attention it is getting from the freshmen. On the other hand, this set up doesn’t allow the 42 student actors to feel like a cast.
[I] only know three of the freshman names and [haven’t] gotten to meet everyone yet.
— Colby Peck
“Now [the cast is] just meeting and we are finally getting to know each other,” Colby Peck, a junior, observed during tech week. “[I] only know three of the freshman names and [haven’t] gotten to meet everyone yet.”
With an influx of young and eager actors, the program opted to change the structure to accommodate all of the new faces. The play’s director, Barry Woodruff, found a way to include the increasing amount of freshmen interested in the hopes of building a strong cast for the upcoming spring musical Mamma Mia.
“Mamma Mia is full of so many big musical numbers, a strong ensemble is a must,” Bella Cortez, a senior, commented. They want to build the cast from the ground up and this new group of talent has the potential to carry the show.
In the final moments before the curtain opened, the cast scrambled to get all the plays together. The different play structure with the multiple scenery and costume changes made backstage more chaotic. There were also more people to wrangle together to get the job done.
“Hopefully it will all flow nicely and it will make for a play that everyone will remember,” Peck remarked.
