A Streetcar Named Desire

Our final set which we had for performances.

Our theater program has been working on creating an adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire for the past 2 months. I’ve been on tech, specifically lighting- working on focusing lights, building an LED sign, wiring lights together, and so much more. Other departments were tasked with as much, if not more work-set built a platform and a balcony, scenic painted said platform, costumes sewed and bought outfits for everyone (and as the main characters each had a new costume or costume piece per scene, there was a lot to do), props provided the handheld items, and sound found and assembled what was needed for the show. It took all of us working together to create something as amazing as we did.

We performed the last two weekends- the 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th. Adding on to these scheduled evening shows, we added on an afternoon show on both Wednesday and Friday. All of our shows were sold out which was amaing!

It was really cool to be able to see the show come together. As I was on tech, I never really got to see what the actors did and vice versa. I remember the first time we got the actors to practice on the actual stage and the way that the play started to come to life then. We were able to go from just an idea on paper to a real life set and show, which was an incredible rewarding process

Our original set plan- we designed our set based off of this plan.

Recently, on Tuesday, we had our strike, which was when all the set was “knocked down” and taken down. For me, on lighting, this involved removing LED tape, taking down our fluorescents, taking down the sidelights (lights that shone from the wings of the stage) from the trusses, then removing the trusses themself. Other jobs included removing our balcony, removing the tarp and dirt from the stage, and organizing the piles of wood, tape, and nails. Currently, the stage is almost restored to its original look.

I definitely enjoyed my experience with theater this year and I definitely hope to continue in the coming years of high school!

Hamilton: The Musical

Recently, I was able to watch Hamilton. It was an amazing experience and I enjoyed it a lot. I hadn’t watched Hamilton before, so it was a first time experience that I loved.

I really enjoyed the diverse cast and how we got to see so many people of different races playing the characters. Main characters, like Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, George Washington, and Angelica Schuyler, were played by diverse actors and I enjoyed that.

The songs were also so beautiful and I loved how they all embodied the character(s) who sung them. Some examples were Burn (sung by Eliza) and Satisfied (sung by Angelica and Alexander).

Another thing which I found really interesting was how the same set was used for all the scenes. Unlike other musicals which I’ve seen before, the set was the same, though the characters did transition from place to place. I also thought the way that the set was built was unique and spectacular.

What’s your favorite musical?