Getting Ready to Break A Leg

Getting+Ready+to+Break+A+Leg

The cast and crew members of the theatre program at Regis Jesuit have been busily preparing for the production of the new and exciting fall musical that is approaching: How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying).

All of the actors, actresses, and behind-the-scenes technicians have felt both the stress and motivation that comes with what the drama program refers to as “Marathon Week”,  which is occurring this week, from October 26th- October 30th.

Sydney Fillipi, a member of both cast and crew, and Catherine Schifano, a crew member, provide insights on the challenges and accomplishments that the theatre community is experiencing. “The hardest thing for the crew right now is putting all of the pieces together,” said Catherine.

Currently, the most challenging issues are music and choreography, but the theater’s budget is also posing a significant problem. “It is not cheap. We have to pay for paint, costume design, and other certain little things for each department… Our main obstacle is the costumes: we have tried really hard to find cheap materials and props in thrift stores that we can creatively work with so that the budget won’t be such a prominent difficulty. The individual objects are not particularly expensive, but when we have to buy mass quantities of a single prop or clothing article, then the price gets pretty high,” Schifano and Fillipi stated.

They continued to say that the “deadline will always be a problem…we have two weeks left, and we have been putting a lot of effort into the production, so we are proud of the work that we’ve done…the scene is slowly but surely coming together.”

This week has proven to be very stressful for the theatre members due to the looming sense of urgency. Everyone has had to balance their homework load, stay at the school until nine o’clock at night (sometimes midnight), and work together as a team in order to be effective.

The RJ community can help the cast and crew during the next two weeks by offering moral support, hugs, and food.

“We are working on everything all at once. This is the last stretch. We have rehearsals this week and dress rehearsals (full costume, makeup, choreography, music, set, etc.) being next week,” Catherine and Sydney said.

Despite the stress that they are feeling now, Sydney and Catherine are both excited for the entire Regis Jesuit community to see the musical. “The play has an old-school feel to it. It takes place in the 60’s and it features a ‘black and white’ detective story that occurs in New York City. All of the characters have their own unique and interesting personalities that make them individually original, but the two main characters are Finch and Rosemary, who provide an onstage romance,” stated Sydney and Catherine.

“We’re really excited for it all to come together and to see our hard work pay off…my absolute favorite part is when we bow after each performance: we get to see the reaction from the audience, and we know that we truly succeeded… I also love the excited/nervous energy that we all feel right before the show,” said Sydney Fillipi.

The play will be featured in the Z Theatre, and the opening night for the musical is on Friday, November 6th. The production will also be showed on November 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, and 15th.

Tickets can bought online at rjhsdrama.tixato.com/buy. The cast and crew cannot wait to bring the production to the stage, and they hope that the audience will love the creativity and diversity of How to Succeed in Business (without Really Trying).