Theatre never stops at WIlsonville High School! After the closing of the fall musical, students and teachers jump right into the next show. The winter play, “Much Ado About Nothing,” by William Shakespeare, is a comedy focusing on the complicated relationship between the four main characters. In classic Shakespeare fashion, things do not go according to plan, and chaos ensues. This show however, is going to be set in the time right after World War 1.

    The process of bringing a production often starts with a workshop centered around the upcoming ing show. For this production, the theatre department brought in F. Tyler Burnett to conduct a workshop on how to create a Shakespeare show. Students learned a lot about who Shakespeare was, and the literary devices that were employed in his works. Student Director for the show Katie Walter stated “Even as someone who has read Much Ado About Nothing, as well as many other Shakespeare shows, I learned a lot about performing it that I can definitely use in the future.” Students seem to have had fun at the workshop trying out new scenes and reading them with their intended meaning.

    The next part of the process is the start of auditions. Students were given the audition pieces at the workshop, and then performed the scene in front of the director. They are closed auditions, so it is only between the student auditioning, and the directors, with the exception of the student director, who is the only other student who got to sit in on auditions. Walter said, “Sitting in on auditions was so eye opening for me. Watching every single person come through and read showed me how much talent we really have in our department.”

    A wide array of students auditioned, and a select few were told to come back for call backs, meaning they were in the running for a specific role. Junior Tenley Lubisch was one of the students who received a call back. Lubisich had this to say about the call back process, “I thought things ran very smoothly, and the process was very well organized. It was fun to see all the talented people come and show their skills.”

    The audition process is just the beginning of producing a show, and the first of many steps to come.