Inglemoor Drama’s production of Murder On the Nile runs on Friday and Saturday the first week and Thursday, Friday and Saturday the second. The play is set on a luxury cruise hosted by a wealthy couple; while on the trip, someone is murdered. Throughout the play, the people on the boat try to find out who committed the murder and their motive. Through auditions, run-throughs and “hell week” — the week before the opening night where everyone stays until 10 p.m. — the theater crew works to make the show the best it can be.
After instantly getting hooked on theater their sophomore year, senior and prop master Serena Gustafson (they/them) said they’re very proud of their work in theater.
“There really is a lot of talented and passionate students behind each and every production just trying their best,” Gustafson said.
Producing a play is a complicated process, and working towards a perfect performance can often be mentally and emotionally draining.
“A lot of emotions are heightened, so a lot of people are stressed out,” Gustafson said. “It’s like a wave of stress.”
Throughout the long production cycle, freshman Kaavya Vaswani (she/her) learns her lines and blocking — specific movements actors must memorize for the stage — by practicing consistently.
“Most of the time, it’s practice, practice, practice, and the more times you practice, the quicker it is memorized. Going around every day, throughout my house, playing the scenes in my head, stuff like that,” Vaswani said.
Often, the technical crew doesn’t have the same understanding of the play’s plot as actors do.
“Doing it outside of the show, especially outside of school, especially if you’re not in the class and you’re not familiar with the source material, it can be really confusing,” Gustafson said.
This year, drama teacher and director Katie Powell-Mitchell (she/her) opened up new leadership jobs for students by creating new positions of assistant directors. Funding for the play also looks different this year due to the district-wide budget cuts. Usually each show gets between $16,000-20,000, but this year all of the show budgets got a $10,000 cut. Powell said that she didn’t know about the theater’s budget cut until after school started.
“When you lose $10,000, you’re kind of limited, so now all of a sudden our show is very small,” Powell said.
Despite the challenges the theater department faces this year, Powell believes the show must go on.
“You could see the impact that theater has on a community, whether it’s a message in a play or the life skills that people learn from interacting with people who are different from them,” Powell said.
Despite the stress that comes with producing a show, the drama crew enjoys working toward a show-stopping production.
“I would definitely like for students who watch the show to understand that it’s not just a show. It’s a whole community coming together and having fun; we’re here to have a good time,” Gustafson said.
