Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Annie

On the weekend of February 24th, Kingwood Oxford’s very own theater program put on a production of the show “Annie”, and after long months of hard work, the show was a success

“Annie” in a show about an orphan girl living during the Depression era in New York City. While Annie (Olivia Kravetz) has been looking for her parents her entire life, she almost gave up hope when one day, Grace (Julia O’Connor) came along and she got to meet Mr. Warbucks (Blake Randall).

Mr. Warbucks presented the opportunity for her to search for her mother and father. After an expensive and somewhat extensive search across the country, he was unsuccessful. However, he did realize that he thought of Annie as his own daughter, and adopted her.

“We have been working on the production since December”, said Stage Manager Nicki Roth. “The play counts as a sport for everyone involved, so every day after school we all spend a few hours rehearsing”.

The many students involved in the production have enjoyed being a part of the show, and say it has been a lot of hard work. “We rehearse up to two and a half hours every day”, says lead role Blake Randall. “It has been more fun than stressful, though, because I love playing the part of Daddy Warbucks”.

The students enjoy being a part of the production, because they volunteer themselves to be a part of the show. Each person auditions for a role, and the director, Mr. Baldwin, decides whether or not they fit the part.

As well as the actors, there are students involved with “Annie” behind the scenes. One of the most crucial people in the process of putting on the show is Garrett Meccariello. He is the sound engineer.

“I control all the microphones, sound effects and run 24 microphones for the actors”, said Garrett. “I also balance the chorus over the orchestra”. Most people don’t really think of the sound engineer as being one of the most important people involved; however, without him, the actors would not have such hi-tech sound effects such as the wireless microphones.

This is Garrett’s eighth season working in the sound booth.

As many students not involved in winter theatre know, the week leading up to the play in February is the most stressful. Often called “Hell Week”, everyone has a good amount of work as well as long rehearsals leading up to the opening show, which is performed for the school.

“During the last week, the play is all we do,” said Nicki. “We spend all our time on it: we have a six hour or longer rehearsal every day for the whole week”.

After their opening show, the school soon realized that all of the cast’s hard work was worth the time and effort. Many students enjoyed the production, including sophomore Abbie Mancinelli.

She usually doesn’t like plays, but “Annie” was “energetic” and “fun to watch”.

“You can see how much work they put into memorizing their lines and getting the steps right”, said Abbie.

All in all, this show proved that Kingswood Oxford’s theatre program is extremely talented, and that the school can’t wait until next year’s production.

-Rachel Dietz

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