As we sit in the theatre’s lobby at the University of Illinois in Springfield, the nerves and tension begin to settle in all of us. Most were either playing cards or gossiping about the other shows. The rest of us were quietly thinking about the fate of our show. As our coach came out of the office, we headed outside. He holds up a small piece of paper and flips it over. We all start screaming, hugging each other. My greatest success is being the stage manager for a state winning theater program.
“Hey, Tom you ready for the play this year?” My coach Mr. Wargin says as I walk into the little theatre.
“Of course! It’s my senior year, it is going to be the best year for us, I promise!”
As the other stage managers and I stand on the stage taking attendance and pass out the calendar of practices and events, Mr. Wargin tells us a game plan. “We meet every Tuesday and Thursday; occasionally we’ll have a Saturday where we work all day. We’ll use those Saturdays for when we are falling behind and need to finish big projects that we can’t finish during the school week. We provide lunch if you come, and it is greatly appreciated if you do.”
He continues to say, “We have two sets to build, one for each play, and we have about a month and a half to complete both”. He explains that our contest play is “The Picnic” and we are going to build two houses, with faux grass, something we have never done before. Our other show, the group interpretation, is “A League of Their Own”. This show is unique in that it’s not an average show; we use platforms to bring the show to life. Different levels create different moods.
Shortly after, we remind him to explain what conference and sectionals are. He continues to explain that “conference doesn’t mean much; it is basically just a practice for the actors to see what they should improve on and for the crew to improve their set and set-up time. Sectionals, however, has our biggest competition. The set-up time of the contest play is twelve minutes up and five minutes down. This year’s conference will be held at Argo High School, and sectionals will be held at Reavis High School.”
Building the contest play set was difficult. Mr. Wargin wanted us to build a twelve-foot high house on stage right and a ten-foot high house on stage left. As we finished building the fronts of the houses, he informed us we were getting the faux grass. The faux grass will be from left over turf that our school had from its football field revamp. I was angry about this. I felt like I was the only one who remembered that our set must be set up in twelve minutes, and that this huge twelve by twenty piece of turf had to be moved in a truck. I was skeptical about how this would work.
Our group interpretation set was not hard to build. It was just different size frames and platforms that the cast had to stand and walk on. After it was built, we faced it with brown carpet and tan siding.
Conference came quicker than expected. The Friday before conference we did a run through of both the shows, and then packed the trucks. The next morning came fast, and we were all at school by five in the morning. We were all tired but ready to go. When we got to Argo, we went to our assigned rooms and relaxed, talked and ate until our set show time came. We got ready by the unloading docks and waited for our time to start. “GO!” said the Argo coach telling us to set up. Everyone does his or her own thing in a neat fashion. I had to stand on a platform and help put on part of the roof on the twelve foot house, while still giving others direction and keep everything in check. As the time dwindled down, we finished with three minutes to spare for the cast to practice a little. After our show ends, we get back on stage and wait for our cue to break down the set. After we break our set down and the rest of the shows are finished, all of the teams move for the theatre to see who won conference and other awards. The first award goes to the school with the best technical crew, which means the most for me because this is what I have spent the majority of my time doing for the past few months. The crew unites by holding hands in anticipation for which school will win this award. “The winner for best technical crew is awarded to… Oak Lawn Community!” We all jumped and screamed; the other stage managers and I ran on stage to collect our prize. I was ecstatic. We waited for the casts to receive their conference medals. The theatre goes from a loud applause to silence within seconds as the host goes back to the podium to announce who will win conference. Like before, we all hold hands, and are now on the edge of our seats waiting in suspense. Again, we hear “The winner, with three superior ranks, goes too… Oak Lawn Community!” We all jump and scream again. We won conference for our contest play and group interpretation.
A long week later, we did the same as the week prior; a run through, pack the trucks, get to school at five, wait for our show time, run our show, and then wait for the awards. There is only one difference: the top two contest plays and top three group interpretations are able to go to state. That was our whole program’s goal: to go to state. As we finish our shows and go to the theatre, there is tension you can cut with a razor. No team knows the fate of their show, as they could end up going to the University of Illinois, where state is held, or just stay home, and absolutely no one wanted the latter. As they call out all sectional actors, we all are on edge. We were all nervous, though some showed it more than others. As they start to announce the schools that are going to state, we all become increasingly nervous. I started to shake as silence loomed over the room. “The winner of this years contest play goes to… Oak Lawn Community!” We all ran down to the stage and again were screaming. We then waited for the group interpretation results. It’s a dreadful feeling when two other schools were called and there’s only one school left that has the chance to go to state. Both of our plays get the chance to go down to state. Our bus ride home from Reavis High School was crazy, we were all pumped on adrenaline from winning and cannot wait for that bus ride down to state.
The following week was spring break; we were all well rested and ready to compete. Its Friday morning and we have a run through, pack the trucks, and head down on our fancy coach bus to state. The two-hour bus ride consisted of loud talking, instrument playing, and a competitive game of Catchphrase. After we arrived at our hotel and unloaded our belongings, we headed over to the University of Illinois and got our schedules and programs for the following day.
The next day, after a well-rested night, we went back over to the University. Our show is at eleven, but we got there at six thirty to unload the truck. Mr. Wargin backed up the truck and we only had fifteen minutes to unload our set into a box for when we have to set up for our performance. After unloading, we are able to watch some shows before ours begins. We get back to the stage and wait for our cue to begin to set up. After our contest play, we go head down and prepared our group interpretation set by bringing it down a long hallway to where we had to set up for our performance. Again, we do as before and set up, watch the show, then break down. We won part of our pre-limb for group interpretation, so on Saturday we have another show with the group interpretation, and then on Sunday, the dreaded day came.
As we sit in the lobby at the theatre of University of Illinois in Springfield, the nerves and tension start to settle in all of us. Some of us are playing cards, some are gossiping about the other shows. The rest of us are quietly in our heads thinking about the fate of our show. As our coach came out of the office, we head out side. He holds up a small piece of paper and flips it over. We all start screaming, hugging each other. We get to perform our contest play one last time in front of everyone. Sadly, our group interpretation did not win state; they won second place. But we are all one group, we were all happy for each other.
All of the time and effort I had put in to running such a wonderful program helped me learn how to take control of situations and bring the best out of them. Being a stage manager helped bring us to the state level. It was not all just me, it was all of us. Being a leader of such a fantastic group was my greatest success.