Every year Taft Drama Department puts on two productions, a play in the fall, and a musical in the spring.  This year the Fall play was The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. It was the most “technical” play Taft has done in recent years, with lots of scene changes, sets to build, lighting cues, and sound effects to coordinate. Thankfully it came out really well! Mr. Sehres, the Director, and head of the Drama department was the mastermind behind the play, but it couldn’t have been done without the help of all the students in Taft’s stage crew.

Taft recently developed a program called, “Theater Design Concepts,” where students are directed by the wonderful Mr. Sehres to build an intricate set, set up the lights and lighting panel, and design a show from the ground up. The entire production was developed and run by students. Though, to be honest, the show wouldn’t have been the success if it was for the dedication and support from the amazing stage manager. Senior Sarah Acuna blew it out of the water.  The members of the production and stage crews were lucky to have another person managing them. This was Sarah’s second year as stage manager, and with multiple shows under her belt, she was ready at every turn to make sure this show was a success.

As a Stage Manager Sarah’s job was basically all the jobs combined, and then some. She was the backbone of the whole program. She stayed for hours upon hours to help get everything that needs to be done, done. Basically, she is the best ever. But to break it down, she is in charge of making sure all the actors have everything they need, from costumes to sets and props. Then she makes sure the lighting and sound board operators know their cues, and she “calls the show”, telling each person backstage when to do their part. This show had a ton of set pieces, all built by the stage crew class right here on campus, and Sarah was the one who made sure Mr. Sehres could direct, and everything else would be taken care of.

This show was created by a village. There were stage crews, light crews, costuming, actors, and the leadership. With practices that kept the students at school well past 4 pm week after week, it was truly remarkable to see the end result! Give a round of applause for all the hard work these students and their fearless leaders have accomplished this semester!

CREW

Sarah Acuna**

Melissa Alvarez

Josef Amiri

Janice Bradley

KB Bryant

Christian Castro

Lisa Charaschevski

David Dastmozeh

Steven Dion*

Michael Fakhuri

Joshua Fisher*

Gabby Grout

Brian Hernandez*

Dashiell Hamblet

Josh Isaga

Yareli Jimenez

Sasha Rafailova

Jack Randall

Harel Raz

Mikhail Rickman

Kyle Steele

Aria Taherian

(* Denotes Crew Captains)