It’s the end of October in Hayfield’s auditorium and the actors just finished their fall performance. They say farewell to the public as the curtains are closing, the lights come on and it is time for everybody to go. But what’s it like for the participants behind the scenes?

Hayfield’s first production of the year, Spamalot, has been a huge success. Singers, actors, technicians and dancers worked together to put on this show on the stage of the auditorium in Hayfield secondary school. The show was performed a total of 6 times: October 13-15 & 20-22.

During the first week of school, the director announced that Spamalot was going to be the first production of the year. The story, the lines, and the songs were not created by the director nor the students.

“It is based on the original Monty Python and the holy grail movie. A lot of the vets are from the movie,” Junior Katie Ross said.

To assign the roles, the students have to audition for the characters or role they would like to have. Anyone can audition for a play, whether they are in a theater class or not. They can also audition to be a dancer or to take care of the technical part of the production- the sounds, lights, cameras, etc.

“We also had to be familiar with several scenes that we would perform at the audition, as well as a dance section taught by the choreographer,” Ross said.

Rehearsals for plays take place after school and are very time consuming. After roles are assigned, participants work as a group to create the best production in a small amount of time. They put a lot of their time and energy into this.

“It was a lot of work to memorize all those lines, a lot of singing, a lot of dancing, just a lot of out of class work,” Junior Carter Elliff said.

If the show has been such a success, it is also mostly thanks to the amazing relationship the students have together. They all share a common passion, put on a show, and that’s why they had a great time working together. 

“The theatre community at Hayfield is so welcoming and has been so awesome to be a part of,” Ross said.

“My favorite part was getting to spend time with the cast and work together to create something meaningful. I love collaboration so getting to work with lots of different types of people would be my favorite part,” Junior Nina Wilborn said.