Magic in the Air

Plays and musicals are where dreams come true and imagination becomes reality. This is especially true for Allied Campus Theaters upcoming musical, Matilda. Based on Roald Dahl’s award-winning classic, Matilda, this laughter filled production is sure to be a spectacular show you don’t want to miss. None of it would be possible,however, without the wonder-workers in the theater department, who have worked hard to make this dream into a sure-to-be sensation.

“My favorite part is seeing how everyone loves to just be around eachother, I think one of the things that kids say they love about our theater program is that they feel like it’s a family and they have fun here,”ACT Theater Director, Ms. Korth-Piles said.

For these students and teachers, putting on a show isn’t just a job that they have to do, it’s a journey that they look forward to traveling together, even if there’s a few bumps on the way, and come out in the end with a great show. 

Another one of these individual programs is the LEE band.  The LEE band is accompanying the singers and actors during the course of the show. The theater department and band don’t interact much during the course of the year, so the annual musical creates an opportunity for the two programs to work together and create something magical. A wide range of instruments from drums to flutes will be in the orchestra pit, and while you won’t be able to see them, you’ll hear them and their awe-inspiring sounds. 

“My favorite part is probably getting to meet all the new people, especially the actors and people in the pit, and some new faces I haven’t seen so far,” sophomore trombonist, Fernando Cruz said.

One part in the creation of a show that most people don’t really think about is the behind the scenes efforts of the cast, crew, tech, and musicians. These people put enormous amounts of work and effort into making shows like Matilda a reality. They also offer different perspectives on the making of the show, and the people in it.

“[The hardest part of putting on a show is] the time constraint that we have here, there’s so much going on on this campus without everyone’s individual programs, and we never know who’s going to show up to rehearsal most days, so we just have to work with who shows up.” Ms. Korth-Piles said.

The tech crew also works hard to make sure everything runs smoothly and there are no malfunctions during the show. They work with the lights, mics, sound, effects, and so much more.

“I’ve never been assistant stage manager so that has been really fun… you get a glimpse of that I’m going to be responsible for the set pieces coming on and off so I’m super excited about that and to just learn all the fun stuff,”Sophomore Layla Boyd said.

Obviously in a musical, the musical aspect is a large part of what makes the show spectacular. This show features a wide range of songs from the high energy song, Loud, to the slow self-deprecating song, Pathetic, performed by Ms. Honey.

Another big part of putting on a show is the set. In this case, the set wasn’t entirely built on site by the set designers for ACT. Parts of the set were borrowed from the Johnson theater program, since they produced Matilda last year. The costume designers also have a big job of designing all of the costumes with the materials they have and making them fit with each of the actors and the show itself.

“As the assistant head costumer, I basically put together concepts and costume pieces. We pull them from our costume closet and sometimes we order them, and then we assign them to every person. We go scene by scene to see who needs what and make sure we have everything… I would say that my favorite part is the creativity we have with everything because its so different from other productions. We went for a dreamlike state, like it’s from Matilda’s point of view,” junior Carlos Florez said.

Then, of course, there are the actors. The stars of the show and ribbon that ties everyone’s hard work together. Through their dedication to their craft, they bring the characters to life and draw crowds to marvel at the magic of the theater.

“I am playing Bruce Bogtrotter. He’s the kid who is very well known for eating the chocolate cake during the show. My favorite part about being in the show is getting to know the people that are in the show with me, my castmates, and just having fun with them in the show,” freshman Nicolas Duke said.

All of these roles and people come together to make an unforgettable experience for the audience. The run is only three days long, but for the crew, these memories will forever be immortalized as part of their high school experience. 

“By far the number one memory for me is that time where my song came up and we were doing Telly and everyone immediately got super excited, ran into the audience, and let me perform my song on stage and just enjoyed it from an audience point of view, and it was really nice because I got that feeling that these people really do appreciate what I’m doing,” senior Nicolas Brabham said.

Matilda is set to run next week from Thursday, January 23 through Saturday January 25, offering shows all three nights, and a matinee performance on Saturday afternoon. Make sure to head over to act.booktix.com to grab your tickets before they sell out.