Auditions for the Theatre 308 spring musical were held first week of January, and rehearsals and set-building are underway; so I set out to see how Darien High School's preparation of Fiddler on the Roof compared to Disney's High School Musical.

I didn't notice any strife between jocks and drama people and nerds and skaters. I did see a lot of kids building sets in a Tech Ed room that would rival any construction site. And I saw a few kids rehearsing a scene for an hour, and then lots more kids (and I mean lots) coming in to warm up and then practice a dance routine. There were too many kids to count, but I do have a cast list and, again, there are too many to count. Somewhere over fifty.

There was the occasional burst into song and/or dance a la High School Musical. And there was plenty of talent to go around—apparent even at this early stage (pun intended).

I arranged my examination of the theater process through Michael O'Brien, a high school math teacher who doubles as Theater 308 Business Manager. He introduced me to Nancy Herman.

Herman is the force behind Theater 308. She's the Director and Producer, and also an English and Drama teacher. She's the one who drives a car with a license plate that reads "Drama 1." Do you think she's into it?

Totally!

She did kind of remind me of the High School Musical drama teacher, only less flamboyant.

O'Brien advised me to keep somewhat low-key, because "with this number of kids it's a management chore to keep them on task. They're good, but they're kids."

First I visited the set crew. Electric saws were buzzing in the Tech Ed room, and kids were carrying big wooden building stuff out to the stage of the auditorium. I really did not want to distract anyone who was using an electric saw, so I took pictures furtively. 

"Everything is teacher-supervised but the kids build it all," said O'Brien. "When it's done, you won't see the set; you'll see a village!"

The village set was designed by sophomore Brooke Davis. Yes, she's only in tenth grade.

"We took various pieces from different shows that we saw online and modified them for our play," she said.

Lee Strecker, the Tech Ed head teacher, is the Master Carpenter for the show, and Luke Hill, another student, is "set head and lighting head."

Then O'Brien took me to the Little Theater, which is an oddly professional room surrounded by enormous black curtains. Here I observed some students "blocking out" a scene under Herman's direction.

Blocking, Herman said, is the choreography of acting.

"It's traffic patterns and movement. It has to be motivated by feeling and what's happening with the characters, so it's believable to the audience," she said.

While she sometimes prepares scenes in advance, Herman said she prefers to let the blocking grow organically: the actors read the scene and do what feels natural.

"Do you know why he says that?" Herman asked Kevin Koenitzer, who plays the role of Motel.

It's like an English class in that you have to examine the script carefully to catch the nuances.

At another point Herman stopped the action and addressed all the actors:

"Let what the other person says really land on you, and change you."

Meanwhile, Stage Manager Kelsey Davis was busy, busy, busy, writing down all of the blocking notes. I never really knew what a hard job Stage Managing was.

At 4 p.m. Herman bowed out, and first grade teacher (at Holmes) Amanda Ducharme arrived. This is when the hoards of students arrived to rehearse a giant dance scene ("Tradition!"). They filled the Little Theater. Davis was really busy now, taking role and trying to get them all to pay attention and shut up.

I have to mention that there's a little ten-year-old girl, Sophie Vilter, playing the youngest daughter, and she was there for the whole rehearsal (see photos). And Kenny Weiss, who plays the main role of Tevye—this is a young man to watch, I can tell you right now. I also got the tip from O'Brien that DHS Principal Dan Haron will be playing a Rabbi.

I personally am really excited about this play. When I was a kid I had the Fiddler on the Roof album (this is before DVDs and even videotapes, oy vey!). I had forgotten how much I loved the music. Check back for more behind-the-scenes stories as the young actors prepare for the show, which will run March 25—27.