The curtains roll, the spotlight shines, the audience applauds, and the show begins. From Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, the Silver Creek theater has opened for three nights to perform four shows of the Little Shop of Horrors, the musical production that Silver Creek recreated from the horror-comedy rock musical originally created by Alan Menken, lyrics and book by Howard Ashman based on the 1960 film.
Reflecting back on the musical, there are so many things I’ve learned, in the places unseen. Let me take you backstage to show you how the magic worked.
I joined the crew when I became an Assistant Stage Manager in September. This was my first time ever participating in Drama. Every day, I had to come to afterschool meetings, rehearsals, and even vocal and dance practices. Along with my Stage Manager Adrianna Azrin, and fellow Assistant Stage Manager Travis Tran, our job as the stage managing crew was to be responsible for actors and actresses and the stage set.
For the cast, we organized the schedule sheets for rehearsals and let each member of the cast and ensemble know when they were called for practice. We took attendance accordingly every day and could leave a little earlier if it was vocal practice with Ms. Simone. Horne or dance practice with Ms. Lydia Martinez-Campos.
On staging days, our director, Ms. Gabrielle Koizumi, would determine the motion of each cast member in specific scenes. We would take blocking notes for where the actors and actresses will enter, stand, exit, or dance. This helped remind the cast where their position and action for each scene was.
Whether each rehearsal was at a classroom or Raider Hall, we needed to find props and stage settings for each scene, and quickly. Because we did not have all the props from the start, we needed to find different objects to replace them so the cast could practice with everything in place. We played the soundtrack for each song and corrected lines when a cast member would forget or say it wrong. This meant we needed to follow along paying attention to the script.
After the tech theater students helped us by making actual props to use on stage, we split the props into stage left and right and organized what would change each scene. A little before the show nights, runners arrived to help us make each scene shift under 15 seconds. The assistant stage managers stayed behind the curtains backstage and communicated through comms with the Stage manager and other tech people up in the tech booth. They controlled the light and sound.
Another hidden group of the most hardworking people in the cast were the puppeteers. They controlled the movements of the growing plant by moving the heavy pods with their bodies in the dark. They controlled their movements without being able to see anything. Later the band joined us with Mrs. Lee as the conductor, and the crew was complete. The band had to listen carefully to the lines and voices of the cast so they could match the timing of switching background music.
I can’t say that staying two hours every day, after school, and cleaning up afterward was easy. We always needed more time on weekends to meet up and discuss stage organizations. It was hard. Technical problems we couldn’t fix, cast members mistaking their positions, and missing props were all blamed upon us.
However, in the end, I was glad to have participated in something that I’ve never done before. Watching from backstage, I was laughing and crying with the audience. Taking care of each cast member, I got to know everyone better, even if the interaction was as minor as checking on their mic batteries and props to telling them how great their performance was. Whenever the wonderful cast members would come up to me and say how much they appreciate my work, I felt worthy and needed.
In this production, not one, but a ton of individuals gathered to create a masterpiece. Although often unnoticed, people behind the scenes deserve the same amount of acclaim and spotlight.
Reflecting back on the musical, there are so many things I’ve learned, in the places unseen. Let me take you backstage to show you how the magic worked.
I joined the crew when I became an Assistant Stage Manager in September. This was my first time ever participating in Drama. Every day, I had to come to afterschool meetings, rehearsals, and even vocal and dance practices. Along with my Stage Manager Adrianna Azrin, and fellow Assistant Stage Manager Travis Tran, our job as the stage managing crew was to be responsible for actors and actresses and the stage set.
For the cast, we organized the schedule sheets for rehearsals and let each member of the cast and ensemble know when they were called for practice. We took attendance accordingly every day and could leave a little earlier if it was vocal practice with Ms. Simone. Horne or dance practice with Ms. Lydia Martinez-Campos.
On staging days, our director, Ms. Gabrielle Koizumi, would determine the motion of each cast member in specific scenes. We would take blocking notes for where the actors and actresses will enter, stand, exit, or dance. This helped remind the cast where their position and action for each scene was.
Whether each rehearsal was at a classroom or Raider Hall, we needed to find props and stage settings for each scene, and quickly. Because we did not have all the props from the start, we needed to find different objects to replace them so the cast could practice with everything in place. We played the soundtrack for each song and corrected lines when a cast member would forget or say it wrong. This meant we needed to follow along paying attention to the script.
After the tech theater students helped us by making actual props to use on stage, we split the props into stage left and right and organized what would change each scene. A little before the show nights, runners arrived to help us make each scene shift under 15 seconds. The assistant stage managers stayed behind the curtains backstage and communicated through comms with the Stage manager and other tech people up in the tech booth. They controlled the light and sound.
Another hidden group of the most hardworking people in the cast were the puppeteers. They controlled the movements of the growing plant by moving the heavy pods with their bodies in the dark. They controlled their movements without being able to see anything. Later the band joined us with Mrs. Lee as the conductor, and the crew was complete. The band had to listen carefully to the lines and voices of the cast so they could match the timing of switching background music.
I can’t say that staying two hours every day, after school, and cleaning up afterward was easy. We always needed more time on weekends to meet up and discuss stage organizations. It was hard. Technical problems we couldn’t fix, cast members mistaking their positions, and missing props were all blamed upon us.
However, in the end, I was glad to have participated in something that I’ve never done before. Watching from backstage, I was laughing and crying with the audience. Taking care of each cast member, I got to know everyone better, even if the interaction was as minor as checking on their mic batteries and props to telling them how great their performance was. Whenever the wonderful cast members would come up to me and say how much they appreciate my work, I felt worthy and needed.
In this production, not one, but a ton of individuals gathered to create a masterpiece. Although often unnoticed, people behind the scenes deserve the same amount of acclaim and spotlight.