RIGHT ON CUE

Behind the scenes of the UPA Theater Department

ARTICLE BY LORENZO ALMARIO • ILLUSTRATIONS & DESIGN BY OLIVE LUONG

here are multiple steps and processes just to get shows at UPA’s theater started. These first steps are taken by Head of UPA Theater Department Cayleigh Coester. Coester has a management team who helps her with running the Theater Department. It is made of upper-classmen: Sarah Cayabyab as a stage manager, Timothy Austin as the technical director, and Alisa Tran as a stage manager and assistant director.

Once a show’s direction is decided, the next step for Coester and her team is auditioning and casting. Depending on the show, choreography, and the number of nights the show will run, audition schedules can vary. In previous years, auditions have taken one day each, which was the case for “Much Ado About Murder” and “Clue.” Others, such as the upcoming spring musical auditions, take two days: one day for vocal auditions and one for dance auditions.

TAfter auditions, there are callbacks. This process typically takes about a week before they come to a decision. During this week, Coester and her team take up to two days to look over all the auditions, seeing how the skills people bring can be used for the show. If UPA’s theater department is casting for a dramatic play and someone uses a comedic monologue for their audition, Coester and her team can figure out what funny character in the play fits the actor.

The UPA Theater Department used to put on two shows each year, but this year, they are doing four. Coester’s goal with more shows this year is bringing more awareness to and expanding the theater department to a wider audience.

“Even if it is just for one day, just having more visibility and having more people get interested in the theater department just so we have more people, we could do bigger casts shows,” Coester said.

The UPA community is a large part of the UPA Theater Department’s longevity. Expanding the department brings more people to the shows. For those who worked on the shows, seeing how the audiences enjoy all the work that was put in is powerful. Cayabyab personally enjoys the audience’s reaction to all the effort put into each show.

“I feel, in theater, seeing the work we put in all come together during the show and seeing how everyone enjoys it, is very rewarding,” Cayabyab said.

The cast of “Noises Off!”, the Fall 2021 play, poses for a photo during a dress rehearsal. With shows lined up back to back, multiple actors had to play the same character, leading there to be two casts that alternated for each show.

The community reaction uplifts the cast and crew, inspiring them to be better at the next show. Having more shows and visibility also inspires the community to help support the UPA Theater Department, whether that be through joining as an actor or part of the crew or through attending the shows and supporting everyone. Tran enjoys how

UPA theater is a community where everyone is cheering each other on and how it is a very open space where everyone is welcomed.

“It’s just the community, like people are so nice and welcoming,” Tran said. “[It] makes you feel comfortable to be real around them.”

“I kind of liked [drama], and [Performing Arts teacher] Ms. Catherine said that I should audition for the musical and so I did. Ever since then, I just kept coming back,” Tran said.

The new play titled, “Outdoor Store!,” is written by Tran and was originally inspired by Coester. When Tran was in seventh grade, it was Coester’s first year directing at UPA, and she mentioned that it would be cool for a student to write a play. Tran kept it in the back of her mind throughout the years until last year, when she was a junior, and she began writing it on and off for a few months. “Outdoor Store!” had its auditions on Dec. 12 and 13 and will be performed in April.

The UPA theater is distinct compared to other schools’ theater because of the size of the Horton stage.

“The stage in Horton is not that big so, more recently, Cayleigh has been doing a lot of [arrangements] with levels, like having different platforms to kind of make the space even bigger,” Tran said.

The community is important but another aspect of theater is the tech team. Theater tech is anyone that is not an actor, and it is broken up into three groups, props team, lighting team and sound team. Tech could also be general stage hands. Austin helps coordinate between all of tech and the director, Coester.

The first group consists of the main technology aspect: lighting and sound. The two teams run lights and sound effects for the shows.

The second group manages all the physical elements on stage, including props, sets, and costumes. All the props for the shows are found and created by the props team. The costume team takes care of designs, creating and finding costumes. The sets, which are backdrops, chairs, tables etc., are designed by students of the sets team, other students involved or by Coester then, the whole second group puts the sets together.

The third group is stage tech, which UPA’s theater does not have as many of due to being short-staffed. Stage tech are the people who are on the side of the stage and help change sets in between scenes during shows. Stage managers are on the sides during shows directing what needs to be done in between scenes. This occurs however, not to the extent it used to be.

Due to being a school production with a small pool of students, UPA’s theater focuses more on the actual aspects of theater and the people rather than major set pieces.

“I went to see a production of ‘Oklahoma’ at Valley Christian, and they had the whole stage turn and had these big sets built up on the side. We do some of that, but we focus more on the theater and the people,” Austin said.

UPA’s theater aims to help students learn and develop as both people and as actors. Coester’s favorite part of the theater program is being able to see students who do not normally interact create lasting friendships even if they are in a different grade level.

“The entire cast and crew got a message from a senior that graduated last year [to] break a leg on the show,” Coester said.

“Just these truly lasting friendships…were created through the theater program.”