Medea, next steps

Story by Selah Wheeler – Staff Reporter

 

Last Wednesday and Thursday, Lee’s Summit North held auditions for its spring play: Euripides’ Medea. The cast and crew list came out at the end of the week, and rehearsals began Monday. Auditions were a two-day process, with callbacks on the second day.

   “On day one we go up on stage with partners and read some scenes in front of our director Mr. Palmer. The next day we have callbacks and we do the same but with assigned partners and only for the roles we were called back for,” said Kinsley Ward, freshman, who was cast as the lead role of Medea. “It doesn’t sound like much but it’s so nerve-wracking, you never get used to it.”

   The next step of the process is preparing for rehearsals, which will be held every day after school in the PAC, from 2:30 to 4:30. Each actor prepares for their roles in different ways, so they will be ready to give it their all.

   For Ward, she said: “I first just spend my time analyzing my character thinking about how she would speak, move and think. I then start on memorizing lines as well as work through how I want to deliver them.”

   Not only the cast, but the crew must prepare themselves and the stage for rehearsals as well. Sarah Keary, a senior at North, will take on the role as assistant director. She will help Mr. Palmer, the director, to do character work, block the show, and give direction to the cast throughout the show.

   To prepare for rehearsals, Keary said she can “pre-write our blocking, so when actors come up and they’re like: ‘where do I go?’ [we] can give them what they need.”

   For the rehearsals themselves, there is a lot to be accomplished in a small amount of time. The cast and crew work together to develop characters and run through scenes to create a show.

 

Photo by Giorgia Risoldi – Staff Reporter