Winter Extravaganza is just around the corner and the theater department is working hard to prepare for their rendition of A Christmas Carol. The performance will be directed by different theater students, who each have the responsibility to oversee their own scene.
“Getting the chance to direct a scene for the first time has been a unique and rewarding experience,” student director, junior Maliha Nasir said. “It was a little nerve wracking at first, but once we started rehearsing it was really fun to be able to tell a story in my own way.”
Multiple scenes are being practiced at the same time to conserve time in rehearsal. Because of this, the character Scrooge is double casted, which means two different actors will alternate playing the same role across scenes.
For sophomore Arnav Mulik, one of the actors playing Scrooge, the process has been nothing short of fast paced.
“We have blocked our scenes and gotten to character work now, slowly bringing the pieces together to make our show come to life,” Mulik said. “As for my part, my goal is to make sure I’m memorized, keeping up with blocking, and communicating with the directors. It’s definitely hectic having to complete the entire rehearsal process in a short amount of time, but I have full faith that with the hard work of our amazing cast and crew, we can use our time efficiently to make sure we have an amazing show.”
Time has been tight for theater according to junior Dhillan Desai, also playing Scrooge.
“The rehearsals for Christmas Carol have definitely been intense,” Desai said. “I have three scenes to prepare, but we only have class to rehearse, so I’ve had to manage my time accordingly. It’s definitely stressful. We only started our rehearsals after Thanksgiving Break, so we really had to hit the ground running in preparation for Extravaganza week. I’ve been working on character and lines early so we can move quicker in class.”
Junior Karthika Menon, one of the directors, feels optimistic about the performance.
“I’m really excited for our entire fine arts department to come together to make a great performance, and I know everyone’s been working really hard to make sure everything’s going to run smoothly!” Menon said.
Working together is nothing new for one or two classes, but Winter Extravaganza brings the entire fine arts department together.
“I am really excited to see all the fine arts come together to create an amazing performance at Liberty,” Nasir said. “It is such a unique event and I love the idea of working alongside so many talented people across the different fine arts departments.”
