“We’re incredibly happy we’re able to do this at all. The show will go on,” said Annabelle Rickert.
The other five seniors involved this fall emphatically agreed saying they were “ecstatic” and “extremely thankful” for this show to go on. Still, knowing the audience will be extremely limited and that they won’t be able to invite everyone they want, it’s a bittersweet pill.
“It’s going to be different. We tend to feed off the energy and emotion of the audience and that’s not going to be there as much. It just changes how we have to be prepared,” said Reese Verlinde.
Facial coverings are mandated for all cast and crew members - something especially hard when actors are used to using so many facial expressions during performances. “We just have to be more aware and use our voice, our eyes and our body language,” said Jayden VanStee.
Rickert said they also have to be aware the facial coverings make it more difficult for audiences to understand what they are saying so they have to be mindful of their enunciation and clarity in their voices more so than ever.
This year’s cast and crew is much smaller in number and they’ve been careful to social distance as much as possible even when performing on stage.
“It’s challenging,” said Carly Snyder. “We can’t touch as much or interact as closely. We try to stay socially distanced even on stage.”
Rehearsals have also been complicated. VanStee was quarantined twice during rehearsals forcing him to attend practices virtually along with other students.
“It’s incredibly hard. You come back and you don’t know the blocking or the interactions,” he said. “It’s so much harder to know your lines and just be able to remember where you were before quarantine.”
The students say they miss the interaction they usually have with all the cast members and getting to know everyone much better. Many of their pre- and post-show traditions, like cast breakfasts and parties, have to be changed or eliminated.
Still, they are committed and excited to be able to perform. “We didn’t know if we were even going to be able to do it at all so we’re very thankful,” said Rickert.
Cast members for the fall play include: Annebelle Rickert, Carly Snyder, Reese Verlinde, Kaitlyn Baldry, Madeline Clark, Payton Stewart, Angelica Schoendorf, Jennifer Logan, Lee Repins, Natalie Alden, Sierra Morton, Mallory Hagemann, Emilia Rickert, Ava Myers, Josie DeBoer, Zac Ploeg, Zach Maring, Diego Garcia, Peter Repins, Jayden VanStee. Stage managers are Madeline McCrumb and Tessa Wenger. Sound technicians are Killian Dudley and Cate Densham and Costume Managers are Ella McFadden and Aislinn VanDommelen.
Friday’s 4:30 p.m. show will be Live Streamed on the high school Facebook at https://facebook.com/MiTKNews/ and YouTube at bit.ly/mitknews.
After watching the theatrical performance, TK fans can turn to the Live Stream of the TK Football team in action of the second round games in the playoffs starting at 7 p.m. – a TK Friday night double feature.
There will also be a Saturday night performance which will be before a limited ticket-only audience. No general sale tickets will be available for any performances.