by Andrew Gilmore ’17, Entertainment Editor
Every year at US there is an assembly we all look forward to. We walk in to the auditorium and see an unusually large number of students missing. This is because they are all backstage waiting to show you what they have been working on. It is the assembly in which we get a sneak peak of the upcoming play or musical. In hopes of drawing a significant crowd for the real showing, Mrs. Pribble briefs us all on what the play is about and then the actors present a small segment of the play.
If you are like me then you probably have never given much thought to what actually goes into producing a play at US. You probably also contemplate attending the actual showing and sometimes choose to show up. But what actually goes in to producing a University School play? And why should you definitely go to watch the production, at least once? To answer these questions I sat down with Mrs. Pribble, the director of all of these productions at US. Contrary to what you may have thought, the actors in the US plays do not wake up on show day with the lines magically in their heads.
On September 15th-16th auditions along with the long and rough journey to opening night begin. The actors learn a wide range of lines and must be prepared to act as any character during auditions. They will run through their lines time and time again until it is clear in Mrs. Pribble’s mind who will play which characters. The audition period can be hard on the actors. They have no say in which character they play. As Mrs. Pribble said, “I do not cast actors, I cast the play.”
Her goal during auditions is to pair actors with whichever character seems best fit. Once the actors, who can consist of US boys and any high school girls in Cleveland, are assigned a character, rehearsal begins. Monday-Thursday from 6:30-9:00PM is the taxing schedule for rehearsal. During this time actors must practice where to move on stage, when to come on stage, and most importantly, what to say on stage. Countless hours are spent perfecting lines and developing a believable and interesting character. These actors do not just know their lines, rather truly try to embrace who their character is.
In addition to this practice schedule, many actors choose to take a course known as Drama Workshop to fine-tune their acting abilities. So, these rigorous rehearsals take place for about two months, or until opening night. But this accounts for only a part of the work put into producing the two hours of entertainment you can view on show nights. A crew of US boys and several teachers from the art department put the set together. In addition to teaching classes, many hours are spent by these teachers to craft and fabricate the sets used in the play. These sets are exquisite and the time spent to put them together should be recognized.
Ever wonder how the actors change their appearances so well to look like their character? Mrs. Pribble brings in a professional costumer to make the outfits worn by the actors look as realistic and as natural as possible. Critical to any play is professional lighting and sound. Luckily, there is a crew of students who are responsible for ensuring proper lighting and audio in the auditorium during the production. They spend many hours perfecting this. Needless to say there are a countless number of hours spent practicing and preparing to put on a perfect show come opening night.
When we walk into the preview assembly we must recognize the inestimable amounts of preparation that went into making the play possible. You probably have at least one friend who is in the drama program at US. Recognize their hard work by going and enjoying this year’s fall play. The play this year is called “The Paper Chase.” It is set in 1971 at Harvard Law School. 14 law students have just finished up most of their first year at law school and are preparing for final exams. The play is about their mutual reflecting on the past year during their time studying for exams. We get to see their brutal pursuit of achieving good grades. They reflect on their social lives and the interesting experiences they have gotten to have. The play was transformed into a book, movie, and TV series. These are all testaments to the high quality of this particular play. This will be Mrs. Pribble’s 32nd year producing the fall play and she expects this one to be excellent. She noted that the incoming class of freshmen contains an unusually high level of talent. Not only that, but a teacher at University School will be acting as a main character in this year’s play. The fall play will have showings at 7:30 PM on November 13th and 14th. Those involved with the play, work excruciatingly hard to put on a great performance. It should go without question that every person in the US community attends one of these showings to recognize this work and to simply enjoy a well-produced, high quality play.
