Image from Sachin Toor
Starting on November 15 and closing on November 24, the WHS Performing Arts Club recently performed William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” I was able to get access behind the scenes and interview key members behind the production for an understanding of the process that goes into putting on a school play.
The school’s Drama Director, Mr. Koppel, says, “The process consists of looking at the actors that we have currently in terms of our student body and also seeing creatively what might be possible for us to do. I also talk to our PAC officers and members and ask them what they’re really passionate about wanting to do.” Additionally, Mr. Koppel also reads plays to get ideas for future plays. “I’m just constantly reading a lot of different plays over the summer and over the holidays, winter holidays and spring holidays looking for things that I think might be interesting to the students and then I bring it to them and get their feedback as well,¨ he says.
The process for auditions was hectic. “We decided that we were going to go really creative and have some of the roles played by girls instead of guys,” says Mr. Koppel. “Then we did non-traditional casting and some roles we made female but other roles that we felt really needed to stay male, we just did it with having the girls dress up as the guys for those particular parts. Afterwards, I had to reach out even further and I managed to get one student from Irvington and another student from a private middle school who ended up getting cast in the show. So that’s been a little crazy.”
What makes this play unique along with non-traditional casting is the setting. Instead of the original setting of Italy, this version is set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. “I’d always thought of setting it in Spain,” says Mr. Koppel. My idea was at first that we might set it in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, but then I switched and decided that we would set it in Spain instead. I decided that because of what’s been going on in the world in terms of the rise of authoritarianism in Europe, it would be set during a time when authoritarianism was on the rise in Europe in the 1930s with the rise of Franciso Franco in Spain.”
Stage Manager Sachin Toor gave insight into the changes in the environments, sound, story, and clothing in the production. Elements were also changed to fit the setting: “we added Spanish style dancing and some flamenco music and the preshow music is 1930s and 40s Spanish, which adds a really nice feel to it making you feel immersed in the culture. And we changed a lot of the names to a more Spanish pronunciation, like Benedict to Benedicto. And all the costumes were inspired by fashion in the 30s.”
Production was chaotic, but that thrilled the production staff. “It’s a lot of fun everyday in the theater. It’s something different which makes it exciting, Sachin says. “It’s a very fun kind of hectic where there are a lot of moving parts in the process. There’s tech, directors, actors, costumes, and props. And all of this happening at the same time which makes it exciting because of all the buzz happening.” In addition to that, during pre-production roles are selected. “Usually two or three weeks before the rehearsal, I will have an audition and then a callback,” he says. “So you’ll come in and they will have you bring a monologue to prepare and you say your monologue and then you will get feedback.”
Props are very important in plays, as they serve a huge purpose in getting the audience immersed in the stories that they tell. Sachin gives insight on how they are managed: “We just draw from what we have already, like in our musical ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ two years ago we had a lantern that was an LED lantern [that we’re using now] and the set pieces are the same wood reused. If we can’t find it or we can’t make it, we’ve got to buy it.”
The production on “Much Ado About Nothing” is unique because they had to overcome challenges and make some compromises in production, creating this unique variation of a Shakespearean classic.
After all this work, the performance was amazing: the 1930s – 40s music came together with the dancing and fashion to create an immersive experience for the audience and ended up leading to a great production.
Sebastian Hernandez is a junior at Washington High School. He was born in Fairfield then moved to Fremont, CA in 2023. This is his first year with The Hatchet. He is interested in covering music, retro games, physical media, movie reviews, and arcade sticks. His favorite hobbies are hiking, biking, playing basketball, drawing, playing fighting games, and caring for his CRT TV. In the future Sebastian wants to go to college and become a nurse, and a repairman for CRT TVs restoring them to their glory. Going to the Philippines to visit his family members and going to the tropical beaches.