By Kate Speer

Edward Little High School

I’m trying to make my way backstage, It’s pitch black and I cannot see a thing. However, I know each person I pass as I slowly walk to my place to start the show. Beyond the curtain, I can hear the rustling of the audience as the pit plays through the overture of the play. I’ve reached my stool by now. The usual people are clustered in their various corners. I make sure to whisper a little good luck message to everyone in my area. We all have a nervous excitement, anxious to perform the show well, and excited to entertain the audience. Despres, our lead actor, has now taken center stage, welcoming the audience. His voice cuts through the air backstage as he sings his first solo of the night. But it’s halfway through the song when the real excitement happens. Despres calls out, “And now the entire company,” and each member of the cast runs down the steps of center stage forming a huge semicircle. The music surges as every member comes through together with their lines. Backstage I feel the energy on stage grow and grow as the song hits its climax. Then everyone is off and the play has started

Edward Little High School’s drama club is one of the biggest clubs at the high school. The club itself has over a hundred members and is run solely by students with the help of their mentor Mrs. Penny Appleby. Annual shows include the Freshmen Play, directed by seniors, which allows for freshmen to get a taste of theatre and the One Acts, which also have a student director, In the spring, the seniors get one last hurrah doing the Senior Play, which is supported by the club. The Children’s Show, directed by juniors, is performed for local elementary schools, who come during the school day to be entertained with fairy tales that are brought to life on the club’s own amphitheater built around six years ago. One of the most popular events of the club is their annual Variety Show, which is the only fundraiser for the club. Different acts within the school audition and if selected, perform as one large ensemble cabaret event. Also available to students is the Straight Show, directed by seniors, which is a play without music, allowing for the non-singers a chance in the spotlight. On top of those six shows, the club’s biggest production is their fall musical. The musical is the only show that their mentor, known to members as Ms. A, directs. However, all acting, choreography, costuming, set construction, publicity/programs. lighting, sound and stage managing are led by students.

While many hear about the shows and are impressed with the outcome, not much is known about the process and work behind putting together a play. Last year when the club did West Side Story, rehearsals started around mid September. For a typical week in October, a cast member would have eight hours of rehearsal, with at least a three and half hour rehearsal once a week. The cast was also learning and memorizing their lines, music, and dances on top of attending the drama practices. By November because West Side consists of a lot of dance, many cast members had ten hours of rehearsal a week. Hell week, a term for the week before opening night, starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving with a set day for five hours, Sunday that year was saved for a tech and music run that lasted also five hours. The rest of the week had runs almost every evening that required the cast to be at the theatre for five hours straight. Friday brought opening night and Saturday concluded all the performances of West Side. Immediately following the final performance the cast “striked” the set and in one week all that effort cultivated into only two performances.

This time frame is typical of the drama club. Visiting friends in other schools who perform three or four times, performing only two nights seems like such a let down. But when the club doesn’t even get that second night, it makes the cast and crew feel worthless. This is the club’s dilemma. Edward Little High School does not have an auditorium/ theatre, therefore the club performs in Great Falls Performing Arts Center and shares the space with Community Little Theatre, among other organizations. In that building the club has a prop room, packed with paint, tools, and wood. They also have a furniture room and a costume room, stuffed with so many costumes that one disappears when they enter the room. Many schools have the club supply costumes for their plays because their collection is so immense. The club’s sets can only get as elaborate as one days worth of work, because with both CLT and the city’s schedules, their time in the building is limited.

Due to its age Great Falls School fails many fire codes, not only affecting the drama club but also CLT. This year the traditional dressing and make-up room, known as the green room, which contained stalls and make-up tables with imitated stage lighting, was closed off due to a fire code. Instead the club, boys and girls, dressed in the hallway up four flights of stairs. Costumes were kept in lockers. They used CLT’S sewing room for a make up room with only hand held mirrors and the limited lighting of the room. Great Falls is also opened to the public from many entrances because there are so many organizations within the building. Not only were the costumes and personal items vulnerable to vandalism, but many of the club’s advisors and mentors felt unsafe with the theatre and the various rooms upstairs open to the general public. After one rehearsal, one girl found her shoes in the nearby toilet.

Like in other years, the club put just as much energy into their fall musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Even with the set backs of the fire codes, the cast pulled together within the final week of the show. However, due to the northeaster on Saturday December 6, 2003, the second night of the show was canceled- If the club had its own theatre, the hard work and effort could be shown off one last time. Instead the set was taken down for the upcoming CLT show on the following Monday. The cast and crew felt after having spent two months putting many hours into the creation of the show, that only two performances were insufficient, but to have only one was tragic.

The club wishes to bring to the public’s awareness the talent and energy that is within Edward Little’s drama club and the lack of appreciation for the club. They are without a home. Pouring money into Great Falls School is not an option. Eventually the building will have to be condemned. Edward Little High School needs its own theatre. A theatre/ auditorium does more then provide a home for the drama club. In edition to theatrical performances, the band and chorus would benefit from an auditorium with enhanced acoustics rather than the high school’s gym. It also gives the school a place to gather the students. The theatre in the Lewiston Middle School also brings in money to the city by becoming a venue that they lease to various organizations. Such a venue at the high school in Auburn could provide the same revenue. While all the surrounding elementary schools have gotten their share of renovations, the high school has been literally rotting away. Please, if you empathize with the club’s predicament, speak with your city councilor, or if you have ideas of how to raise funds for such a venue please contact Penny Appleby at Edward Little High School. The club and high school have been brushed aside long enough. This is the year for change.

The curtain call music starts up and each actor hurries to bow on stage. Once everyone’s on stage, the cast takes a final bow. The curtain closes. Finally backstage, we let out one loud, satisfied, energetic yell.