Inside Marion High
A peek behind
the scenes at student play
A behind-the-scenes look at Marion High School’s production last week of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940”:
Contributing writer
The auditorium is dark save for the house as people excitedly fill their seats.
Backstage, students eagerly lean forward, attempting to stay hidden while assessing the size of the crowd.
It is not quite show time yet, and there still is much to be done.
Cast members quietly run back into a choir room, where vocal warmups are beginning.
“We’re not even singing,” one cast member complains.
Alyera Koehn hushes them, explaining that everyone will be talking a lot the next two nights, and no one’s vocal cords are prepared for that.
Upperclassmen usher everyone into a circle to “pass the power.”
They take each other’s hands and close their eyes.
“It helps us feel more connected,” Sara Groening explains.
Each student squeezes his or her peers’ hands until “power” is passed around the circle.
“Why are you squeezing so hard?” Kadon Smith accuses a boy next to him.
Everyone opens their eyes, laughing.
“Places, everyone!” director Megan Jones says.
The group disperses. Actors run off to check their microphones and spray more hairspray — if that were possible — before rushing out the door to the stage, careful not to let it shut behind them.
All areas must be deadly silent so as not to take away from performers on stage.
Stage lights flip on, and the first scene is in motion — the first murder, rather, and it is playing out perfectly.
All efforts put in over past months finally feel worth it when the audience plays into the actors’ energy.
“If something is funny and the audience laughs, as an actor you feel better,” Stuchlik says. “You [know] you have delivered the line the right way.”
The majority of actors stay on stage for the entirety of the show, but they do not lose momentum, experiencing only small hiccups — mics cutting out and small missed cues.
The show comes to a bittersweet ending as seniors take their final bows.
They run out to a foyer to be greeted by crying parents and teachers pulling them into hugs.
But it is not goodbye quite yet. As per custom, actors go out to eat together as one last hoorah, reminiscing about their past few months together and repeating well-known lines to each other.
“[You] spend countless hours over four years, and it’s just like looking how far I have come since freshman year” Groening sighs.
The show may be over, but the found family in it will never be forgotten.