The bell rings and students rush out of their classrooms. Some wait to get picked up by their parents, while some wait for their friends. Some drive themselves and some even walk home. However, this is not the case for the cast of Carlmont’s annual musical.
Rehearsals started for Carlmont’s production of “Into the Woods” on Nov. 5, 2018. According to Emily Livesay, a sophomore, the beginnings are slow but will become faster paced as rehearsals go on.
“On a typical week, we have one or two days of voice rehearsal and two or three days of blocking or reading through. We rehearse Monday through Thursday, right after school until 5:30 p.m.,” Livesay said.
Cast members will continue this routine for the three months until “tech week”. This is when the technical crew from the Carlmont Technical Theater Association (CTTA) become a part of the production.
“Tech week is the week before a show where it is run multiple times as it would be for the actual show, in full costume, makeup, and microphones […] that could go for 6 hours a day after school,” Livesay said.
As the cast goes further into rehearsals, tech week, and show week, they begin to demonstrate a strengthening commitment to the production.
Mark Castro, a freshman, plays the Shadow Wolf. While he is a new addition to Carlmont, he is hardly a beginner in the theater. Appearing in many productions, Castro has participated in both “The Little Mermaid” and “Peter Pan” at Ralston with the help from San Carlos Children’s Theater.
According to Castro, he has experienced such time commitments in past shows.
“At Ralston, we would usually talk to our teachers and see if we could have extended deadlines and that sort of thing. They usually understood, so I’m planning on doing that again this year,” Castro said.
Livesay has also had previous experience, participating in the previous year’s production of “The Wedding Singer”.
“I believe managing your time before, during and after the musical is important […] usually I make sure before hand that I don’t have any conflicting events,” said Andres Raddavero, stage manager for the production of “Into the Woods”.
As stage manager, Raddavero is the only member of the technical crew who is required to go to block rehearsals with the cast to observe and learn more about the show.
The performances are scheduled to take place at the beginning of February in the Carlmont Performing Arts Center.
“I am very excited and I think its going to be a great musical,” Raddavero said.
