The air is thick with suspense as the final lines are spoken. The play is coming to an end, and everything hangs on this scene. As the words leave the actor’s mouths, cascading into a glorious ending, the audience goes wild, and the actors take their final bows. They celebrate months of hard work and dedication, all to produce a glorious work of art.
The VRHS Theatre scene is a very fulfilling experience. It allows one to be a part of a greater community, and to have something to dedicate one’s time to. The opening night of a show represents the hard work that the actors and crews have put into creating their show, and with it, traditions have emerged to symbolize the end of the long road, such as warmups, hanging posters on the wall, or lucrative ‘spaghetti prayer.’
One such tradition, partaken by all of tech, is called ‘Wrenches’. Roughly 5 years old, it entails drawing a basic sketch of two overlapping wrenches on a crew member’s wrist. It symbolizes the coming together of the crews, people, and theater to put on a show, and it is drawn on every show night by the Seniors. Per tradition rules, only Seniors are allowed to draw them on, to represent the passing down of the legacy to the next class.
“It’s basically a thing we do during the run crew days to represent all the crews coming together,” senior Nick Chang said. “And how the seniors are kind of passing on their legacy to whoever’s a senior next year.”
The Prop Crew tradition is completely different compared to wrenches. Before the opening night, all of the props crew comes together, and… hangs a poster of American actress Zendaya on a wall. It started in the 2022 musical production of Legally Blonde. They find a picture of the actress that the whole crew agrees upon, usually from a magazine, and hang it up on a wall with the previous shows.
“It started my freshman year for the production of Legally Blonde,” junior Audrey Beich said. “I really like it because it’s nostalgic. It’s something to look forward to, having all of the crew come together, and explaining it to the new members.”
The actor tradition is group warmups. Before every show, the actors and anyone else who wants to join gather in one place, and do their warmups. The tradition is led by students that had the warm up passed down to them from somebody who graduated the year before. It’s been part of the program for longer than most members can recall, and they are used before every show, and even during rehearsals. The warmups range from “Trinidad” to “Mother Pheasant Plucker”, all prompting the actors to use 100% of their vocal skills and anticipate every word.
“It’s just silly little things everyone can get involved in,” senior William Hines said. “Just a little special feel-good kind of thing. Before the show, they get everyone’s nerves all loose and feeling good, ready for the performance.”
But no matter what crew you are a part of, the sense of community and friendship is undeniable. Working together with the crews, actors, and teachers to put on a show is a truly unique and rewarding experience.
