Setting up Our Town

Theatre practices blocking techniques for production of Our Town Thursday

Thursday, curtains rise for the opening of Redhawk theatre’s Our Town production. Everyday afterschool, students have been attending rehearsals in preparation for the performance. In the eyes of theatre director Heather Willingham, practices are designed to help improve students’ acting skills, while also opening up the department to a new group of theatre students.

Sarayu Bongale, Guest Contributor
April 26, 2022

Rehearsing every day after school from 4:25 – 7:30 p.m. the theater department is getting ready for opening night of the play Our Town April 28.

“Rehearsals help prepare for the final performance because without rehearsals there will be no show,” senior Jessica Daly said. “Rehearsals make it a lot less awkward and it’s a very fun way to get into character and really understand my character.”

Practicing various theater techniques is a prime element of rehearsals.

“Rehearsals are a time where we start figuring out character and relationships and it’s that time where all those discoveries and decisions will be made and a lot of reputation,” theater director Heather Willingham said.

However, students are mainly focussing on a technique called blocking in order to make sure everything is perfect for the show.

“Blocking is basically where an actor moves in the space, so we are going scene by scene to see how everything looks together,” Daly said.

Putting in effort after school brings more benefits than just getting ready for the final performance.

“The techniques we use and the training we do for one character can be used for all characters moving forward,” senior Nicolly Moreno said. “The warm ups Willingham does really helps to teach us to calm our nerves and things like that.”

Not only are rehearsals designed to help students improve their acting skills, but Willingham is using this opportunity to attract more students to their theater program.

“There are a lot of younger and newer students in our department,” Willingham said. “I’m hoping by the end of this process that there is going to be a whole new group of students that are excited about being in Liberty theater.”