From set construction to character development, One Act cast, crew gets down to wire

Blinding stage lights, Italian accents shouting across the stage and weeks of practice in a 1930s fictional opera house are all encompassed in this weekend’s One Act performance of “Lend Me a Tenor” by Ken Ludwig.
While opening night is Sunday at 7 p.m., the cast and crew are still working to get all the pieces in place before the show.
“It’s tough because we don’t have any stock, so we don’t have anything to pull from previous years,” director Nicole Schlautman said. “We’ve done a lot of borrowing, renting and building things.”
This week, the crew has continued to work in the workshop behind the theatre to move pieces off-stage and finish the set before the performance. They are still painting different elements of the set and finishing doors. Along the way, they’ve experienced some challenges and had to navigate through bumps in the road.
“The other day, we were setting up staircases, and one of the pieces of wood was twisted or warped,” junior crew member Nathan Medcalf said. “And so we had to get everybody to stand on top of the piece of wood while somebody drilled it into the support. So we all ‘walked the plank,’ it was a great bonding experience.”
Since early October, the group has been rehearsing four times a week with it lasting three or four hours a night, depending on the cast member’s role. Throughout this time, some cast members have taken on more responsibility and taken on lead roles.
“It is a big responsibility to be a lead,” sophomore Ava Fink said. “I want to try to make this show the best it can.”

The show is in stark contrast to “Stone Creek Sorrow,” last year’s One Act at Gretna High School, which was a historical drama. “Lend Me a Tenor” is a comedy that follows the journey of a famous opera singer, Tito Merelli (played by junior Andrew Jones) and Max (played by junior Colton Knott), who is a young assistant to Henry Saunders (played by junior Cameron Anderson), general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company. Saunders is excitedly awaiting Merelli’s arrival, however it is Max who steals the spotlight.
Along with comedic timing, the cast has been working on portraying the setting because it takes place in a 1934 hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. Getting into their characters, Fink and Jones have developed Italian accents to more accurately portray their characters.
“I play an Italian character,” Jones said. “It’s all about getting the accent down and making sure people can understand what I’m saying.”
In addition to the premiere this Sunday, two other community performances will be on Nov. 19 and 26 in the theatre.
“We’re in a really good spot,” Schlauttman said. “It’ll get better: we have this sort of continuous improvement track the whole time on the show.”