Behind the Scenes for Theatre West Fall Play

The classic play, “Miracle on 34th Street” is hitting the stage as the annual fall play produced by Theatre West on Nov. 30 – Dec. 1. Some cast members talk about the ups and downs in rehearsing the show, and what it’s like in Theater West.

Theatre West rehearses at school every day for an hour and 45 minutes, working on this production since the beginning of October.

Lucy Polyak ’19 has been involved in Theatre West since the first time she stepped into the audition room as a freshman. Having been in most of the shows, Polyak  knows how the process works.

“As a senior, I sometimes forget that not everyone knows the ins and outs of Theatre West quite as well as I do,” Polyak said. “I have to remind myself that everyone needs a hand now and then when it comes to teaching people the ropes.”

Sam Sunderland ’19 has been involved in Theatre West since his freshman year, and every production is different with its own set of challenges. “It is harder to focus on individuals because last years’ play only had 14 people, but I like that this show has more variety and music. We still have a lot of work to do, but the cast and crew are working very hard to make this production one to be remembered.”

Sean Harken ’21, who was also in “12 Angry Jurors”, agrees with Sunderland on how the actors got much more one on one work compared to this years show.

“Jurors was much more condensed and simple and a lot of the time was devoted to character development,” Harken said. “This year, the show is much bigger and has a lot of moving parts, so to speak. The rehearsal time has been distributed in a much different way.”

“Miracle on 34th Street” is freshman, Zoe Nolte’s first show with Theater West.  Nolte has participated in community theater productions as well and she feels a difference in community theater and Theatre West.

“ [Theatre West] is very welcoming and everyone is so nice. It feels very different from community theater but I’m not really sure why.” Said Nolte. She says that in community theater, you barely see your castmates. However in Theatre West, you see your castmates in your math class or across the hallway.

Many people think that being one of the few freshmans in the group may be difficult, but Nolte explains why that’s not the case with Theater West.

“You just feel part of the group right away, but probably if I had to say anything would be just it’s very intimidating at auditions but after that it’s really great and nobody even compares you by age or grade.”