“Where’s my [insert prop or costume piece here]?!”

“Is my mic on?”

“What scene are we on?”

Have you ever wondered what goes in to an East Noble Children’s Theatre production? Well, I’m here to give you an inside look. I had the privilege of portraying Dopey in our recent production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. If you didn’t have the chance to see it, it was a wonderful show and everyone involved put forth their best effort.

East Noble Children’s Theatre is student-directed, and this year it was in the capable hands of directors Daniel Kane and Lydia Tremaine, both juniors that are very involved in the theatre program as well as other extracurricular activities. While it’s evident that directing a show isn’t the easiest task, these two put their best feet forward and managed to turn a Disney classic in to a show for the EN theatre history books.

When you go and see an East Noble theatre production, it seems flawless. You can see the hard work that was put in to the shows, and the talent is incredible.

However, an inside look reveals a very different story. Rehearsals are certainly far from flawless. Botched lines, misplaced props and set pieces, and drops that just aren’t centered are things that may seem like an easy fix, but take a lot of work to overcome. East Noble Children’s Theatre also had a very difficult time slot this year. With Christmas break and snow days interrupting the rehearsal schedule, the students certainly had to make up for lost time, and they did.

Show/tech week. Mention these words to a theatre kid and they will shudder. This means really long rehearsals spent figuring out every miniscule detail that goes in to the final production. It requires not only a lot of time, but a lot of patience. However, the theatre students always manage to pull through and showcase an amazing production.

Even with all of the time an effort put in to the show, there are always little mistakes that happen. Whether the audience notices them or not, students will skip and stumble over lines, set pieces and props will be misplaced, and scene changes will take too long.

It seems effortless, but a lot of time, patience, and dedication goes in to producing a show. East Noble Children’s Theatre did an outstanding job this year, and their efforts certainly paid off in the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.