The Lakes District Secondary School Mainstage production of Footloose the Musical had its opening night on Jan. 31, 2013. It ran for two more nights and was the fruit of countless hours of choreography, practise, rehearsal and stage production involving more than 50 students in three different classes.
Rayanne Charlie, drama teacher and production director, was pleased with opening night.
“We had a great turn-out,” she said. “The kids were very excited to get the response they did.”
The two-hour production was handled with apparent ease by the actors, dancers and singers. Charlie said that there was not only a lot of experienced players on stage, but also a lot of new participants who faced some challenges to get as good as they have so quickly become.
While those on stage basked in the glamour of it all, Charlie wanted to call attention to all the people that work backstage, managing lights, sound and stage settings.
“Lots of times it’s hard for someone to commit to the time-commitment of [backstage work] because they’re not the centre of attention,” she said. “But they are crucial.”
Two former LDSS students, Katerina Vanhorn and Curtis Lobermayer have spent many years with LDSS Mainstage and the continue to help with a lot of backstage work.
Steven Toohey and Colin Bardarson made up the lighting crew, while James Hannigan and Marion West handled sound. All member of the technical crew worked under the guidance of Walter van der Kamp, LDSS science teacher and the production’s technical director.
