a director's contemplation of the process

The joy of producing a theatrical performance can hardly be matched by any other human endeavor. It is so satisfying to be on stage, to feel the pressure, to feel the anticipation of the audience, to hear the laughter and the applause, to screw up one of your lines and then fix it without anyone (outside of the cast) knowing how close the show actually came to disastrous humiliation. It is absolutely exhilarating!

It is also a great joy to work with energetic, dedicated, theatre-loving students who give their best efforts to make the performances at GWCS excellent! The cast of The Actor’s Nightmare were all GWCS stage veterans. Delia, Lizzie, Anne, Nick and Jack all worked together in last year’s production of My Three Angels, and most of them have done other GWCS productions as well.

If you have never helped produce a play, you are missing out on one of life’s great experiences. I don’t want to give away all of the theatre department secrets, but you should, at least once in your life, know what it’s like to do a halfer, a part-swap, a greenroom gossip, and a theatre-styled Chinese take-out!

As the play slowly becomes a distant memory, and the students slowly (very slowly) stop saying their lines at random times and in random places and for no particular reason, there is really only one thing left to ponder: What will the spring performance be, and are you going to get involved in its production?

GW Community School
Richard Goldie, GWCS Theatre Director
December 15, 2017