The theater department has kicked off the year with several shows already being performed and others getting ready.

The department had their Actor’s Studio class start the season with their show “Tea Time” on September 11. Their next show was the advanced theater “Curious Savage” with Mr. Reynolds as head director.

“I expect excellence, I expect a lot of leadership since the fact that we have so many seniors this year that have been a part of the department for all four years now,” Reynolds said. “There’s going to be very high expectations of excellent storytelling and a lot of discipline, at the same time juggling a lot of college things and getting ready for the next chapter of their life.” 

Senior Noah Elsom, who played Jeff, a war veteran who has PTSD, has done a lot to gain their trust and manage his time so he doesn’t fall behind. 

“Things have been easy so far since the year just started and I haven’t been able to work hard but it takes a lot of memorizing and is kind of stressful but it is worth it,” Elsom said. “A lot of loyalty to the department and proving to the directors of my talent and how I can complete my roles with maximum efficiency.”

Although the actors perform the script, there is a lot of help that happens behind the scenes. The advanced show had a new stage manager, junior Colton Christian.

“My job behind the scenes is to manage the cast making sure they’re on time and on task,” Christian said. “I manage props to make sure they are where they need to be when they need to be there. Also to run the crew and stay on task and focused.” 

The next show is the black box show “Holding On”, which will start showing on Nov. 27 and will go through Dec. 2. Black Box Director Mr. Mullican actually wrote the show and is very proud of the class. 

“We have submitted this year’s black box production to the Betty Buckley Awards,” Mullican said. “I wrote this show, so it is extra exciting for me to have an opportunity to have it considered for the prestigious Betty Buckley Awards.”

Black Box is also fortunate to have many talented actors in the program.

“The talent in this year’s class will probably be the strongest class I will ever have,” Mullican said. “So many great kids this year. No matter how we fare at the Betty Buckleys I have no doubt that we will put on an excellent show that we will all be very proud of.”

One of these talented students is junior Brynley Beller. Beller plays Roxy in the show. 

“Roxy is a crazy sidekick to the villain in the show and is also in love with the villain,” Beller said. “This is the first time that we get to show the school the work we’ve put into this.” 

Finally,  the musical theater will perform “Beauty and the Beast” in January. Senior Isabella Alcala is playing Madame de la Grande Bouche.

“I actually got a really fun part,” Alcala said. “I’m an opera-singing dresser. I think having a part like that and being able to add value is really fun and obviously the people make musicals really fun.”