Students prepare the stage, mark the floors, and the smell of fresh paint is in the air. The pressure of the days closing in on opening night is beginning to weigh on the ever-moving crew of The Little Mermaid. 

San Marcos High School’s Drama Department, like most theater programs, encourages and welcomes students who wish to express themselves in creative ways. “The play is pretty much student run,” said Senior Irene Wu. “We get a lot of guidance from the directors, but a lot of the ideas are student-formed and executed.” Wu goes on to explain that the designs, construction, props, makeup, and much more are all run by the students. The students feel free and privileged to be able to have such a creative outlet, as they’re able to be in control of what they envision the play to be. A student-managed and student-led program encourages a curious audience, and helps inspire those who are unsure about joining the SMHS Drama Department. 

The most fun part of a play is witnessing the innovative ways students portray the characters–whether it’s the actions of the characters or the way they dress. For example, “All the costumes in the show were great,” said Freshman Bryce Keeton. “The costumes reflected the characters and actors really well. It was so cool to see them being made and worn for the first time. The costume crew worked really hard and it showed.” Costume crew is incharge of not only designing and making the costumes, but various related tasks, such as assisting the actors into their costume changes, keeping track of costume pieces, assisting with wigs, and much more. “Our costumes were mainly handled by Mackenzie Pyatt and Anna Ruais, [and] they looked fantastic!” Wu said. Every role and job in theater are important contributions. 

The exhilarating but most stressful part of a theatrical show in the making is nailing the consistency of the shows timing. The Little Mermaid’s backstage crew only received three total runs before opening night. “It was difficult,” Keeton said. “There were a lot of things that needed to happen and not a lot of people to do it.” What needed to be done got divided among the entire cast and crew. What is important to meeting and surpassing the expectations of the play’s success is working as a team. “[We] made ourselves available to help each other out when we finished our jobs. We also had a ton of actors help us out between scenes, which was really [beneficial to the show’s success].” As there are ups to the short amount of time given, there are also downs. “[It was] mostly trial and error before the show,” said Keeton. “As we got closer to opening night, we had to sort out some problems that we had when running the shows the first few times. It was hard, but it made us closer. We realized some scenes needed a little more help.” Being involved in the backstage crew, you need the right mindset, like, not giving up, and being open to new ideas, especially under incredible pressure in a short amount of time, and waning time. Given the short time frame of the production’s preparation, the cast and crew successfully created a wonderful show. 

The most rewarding part of any rehearsal is witnessing the fruits of a productions labor. The positive feedback makes all the hard work worthwhile. “I enjoy rehearsals because I enjoy getting to watch the evolution of the musical,” said Wu. “It’s incredible to see the beginning read-through and various staging and singing rehearsals all work up to the final production.” Although the hard work must be endured, it’s also about the experience everyone had in the process. “Watching my favorite parts of the show and seeing how the crowd reacted to them was really fun,” said Keeton. “Being with the actors off stage and talking with them in between scenes was fun as well.” In the creation of this play, or any play, the people naturally come together because they understand the sum is greater than all of its parts, all the while building their confidence and strengthening their bonds with one another.