By Hailey Spaeth ’17, Arts Editor

Country Day has an almost completely revised team in our Theatrical Arts Department, and along with these new teachers have come many new changes. With the winter musical getting under way, students are increasingly noticing these alterations. First off, the musical is no longer organized by seniority, which means that freshman have an equal chance with seniors for obtaining a lead role. The show won’t be double cast this year, and there are stricter rules for actors who also want to participate in a winter sport. In addition, auditions were held in Keeler with a microphone, whereas last year they were held in the informal choir room setting. Tech is more organized as well, holding formal interviews to set the process off. Students have mentioned objections to these newly set rules during informal conversation, but a majority of the actors and actresses I have talked to have accepted and become accustomed to these new rules. The Drama Director Lisa Bodollo and the Choir Director Esther Kang Rose feel that these changes will bring the cast together and make for an even better show.

One of the most significant changes this year is a shift from double casting the musical to single casting. This means that instead of having two people for each lead role, one actor performing on Thursday and Saturday night and one on Friday and Saturday matinee, there will be one actor who performs all four nights Although this means fewer individuals will receive lead roles, this will cut rehearsal time significantly and improve the quality of the show. With only one person per role, the actors are able to work more closely with the directors, and do not have to worry about learning an ensemble and lead part. On the other hand, when a show is double cast, the lead actors have half the time to learn the dances and songs, and also half the performance time to display their hard work. As Ms. Rose puts it, double casting creates “less of everything for the leads but more stress.” Also, Ms. Bodollo made the point that double casting always “creates teams within the cast.” She believes double casting creates a lot of competition and unnecessary drama. Also, Ms. Bodollo and Ms. Rose pointed out that most high school and professional theatres rarely double cast. Even if the department wanted to double cast, Country Day simply doesn’t have enough students because there are 15 lead roles in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The casting process has been altered as well. The team of Ms. Bodollo, Mr. Evan DiTullio (tech director), Ms. Stephanie Wietmarschen (band director), and Holly, the choreographer made the final casting decision. Each role was decided by unanimous vote. Ms. Rose sat in on the auditions, but she did not vote on casting. She removed herself from the board because she gives lessons to many of the students auditioning. She “made this decision because of concern that if any of my private students got a role, they might receive unnecessary negative feelings from peers.” Also, seniority used to affect who was cast as the leads. Freshman were automatically cast in the ensemble, and seniors and juniors were always the main roles. This year, the votes are cast regardless of age or grade, and everyone had an equal shot. Ms. Bodollo said that this rule allows the show “to play their best players, just like on a sports team.” She also said it makes the seniors work a lot harder. If they know that they aren’t necessarily guaranteed a lead role, they will push themselves harder in auditions. Also, Ms. Rose pointed out that the majority of lead roles are still being held by seniors despite this change in the rule. The seniors seem to only partially agree with this new change. For example, Taylor Boggs ‘16 “would have appreciated the change over a longer period of time” and felt that “the abandonment of seniority was really quick[ly].” Maggie Bernish ’16 was “worried” when they first announced the rule, but she feels that “everything seemed to work out” in the end.

Students who are participating in a winter sport are prohibited from having a major role, like last year. While it was more of an unspoken rule last year, the new theatre department this year decided to “put it in writing,” says Ms. Rose. This rule allows students to really “focus on one thing and put their all into it,” according to Ms. Bodollo. On the other hand, some students feel that this rule is unfair. Boggs thinks that “the school emphasizes that the students participate in multiple activities, and the new winter sports rule makes it very difficult to do that.” All in all, Ms. Rose feels that the goal of all these new changes is to “prepare students for programs like CCM and Julliard… and college and beyond.” Lily Hill ’17 “expected this musical season to be bad before realizing the technicalities of the musical changes. But now that [she] understand the changes, [she] thinks this could benefit the program.” Hopefully, like Lily, these new changes will be wholeheartedly accepted by all the students, allowing them to be a part of a more successful program and have fun while doing it.

Cast List for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,”  Keeler Theater, Feb. 25, 26 and 27, 2016

• Joseph
  • David Yang ‘16
• Pharaoh
  • Teja Atluri ‘16
• Narrator
  • Anna Beyette ‘17
  • Annabel Forman ‘19
  • Ava Kellar ‘19
  • Maggie Miller ‘17
• Potiphar
  • Frank Grossi ‘16
• Mrs. Potiphar
  • Taylor Boggs ‘16
• Jacob
  • Rodney Bethea ‘16
• Baker
  • Ben Paff ‘16
• Butler
  • Carmelita Mays ‘16
• Solo Brothers
  • Maggie Bernish (Those Canaan days) ‘16
  • Eric Fleischmann (One more angel in heaven) ‘19
  • Mickey Masterson (Those Canaan days) ‘17
  • Maddie Morales (Benjamin Calypso) ‘18
• Brothers Ensemble
  • Will Brady ‘16
  • Lily Hill ‘17
  • Nick Jaccaci ‘18
  • Sam Jaccaci ‘19
  • Emma Rust ‘16
  • Zack Streit ‘18
  • Anthony Wang ‘19
• Choral Ensemble & Egyptians

• Skylar Boggs ‘18
• Grace Gilbreath ‘18
• Helen Kovach ‘19
• Carmelita Mays ‘16
• Elizabeth Pease ‘17
• Nathan Riemann ‘19
• Hailey Spaeth ‘17
• Sean Stewart ‘19
• Frank Weston ‘19

• Dance Troupe & Female Ishmaelites
  • Priyanka Dama ‘17
  • Keyra English ‘18
  • Emma Hiser ‘19
  • Monica Ma ‘16
  • Morgan Pfister ‘19
  • Nevie Smith ‘19
  • Maggie Wright ‘19
  • Lily Yu ‘16

Image Source: https://sites.google.com/a/aasd.k12.wi.us/wilsontheater/