In the dressing room, student actors bustle by as they double and triple-check their costumes and gear in front of a wall of mirrors. Backstage, members of the tech crew adjust lights and review their list of countless cues. Beyond the curtain, in the empty Performing Arts Center, sits Director Zach Timm. With less than a week before opening night, the cast and crew behind “The Addams Family” scramble to perfect their production.
“I think that musical rehearsals and rehearsals at this stage in the process are always pretty hectic,” Timm said. “But the kids are doing awesome, the tech crew is really starting to put the show together, and we’re starting to fire on all cylinders. I couldn’t be more encouraged.”
For any theater show, there are a wide variety of details to track and decisions to make. From set pieces and props to makeup, hair, and costumes, the vast amount of moving parts makes the week of dress rehearsals immensely complicated. Additionally, “The Addams Family” is a musical, which means the cast also has to juggle intricate and intimidating dance choreography as well.
“Dancing, putting yourself out there, being able to be strong and sharp with your movements, and being confident in something that looks a little silly and weird is really hard for a lot of kids,” Dance Captain Dani-lou Gemmer* said. “When you first step onto the stage, you start learning all these weird dances, ‘cause it’s ‘The Addams Family.’ The dances are a little freaky, and so you’ve got to gain this confidence as everyone is doing it.”
“The Addams Family” features a smaller main cast and a far larger ensemble named “the ancestors,” who assist with backup singing and dancing throughout the show. Unlike most theater ensembles, whose costumes are similar in design, this show stands out with unique anachronistic outfits for each character. The generation-spanning getups were designed by Costume Director Rochelle Graham, with the intent of showcasing the titular Addams family’s lineage throughout time.
“I actually have a background in historical costume replication, so that’s kind of my expertise; that’s what I studied in college,” Graham said. “It was really fun for me to get to not have just one era to costume, which is typical, but to get all these different eras.”
Before Graham began tailoring the musical’s costumes, she first read through the script for influence, picking up mentions of the family’s Spanish ancestry. With those ideas, she created a book of design concepts for each actor, going back and forth with Timm until they reached consensus.
“I am an ancestor tonight; I’m a bullfighter,” Aiden Carlile said. “But I think the main thing is just that we got the repetition we needed. That was the thing, because we hadn’t worked with tech.”
Throughout its runtime, the show continuously makes use of bewildering set pieces, opulent props, and lurid lighting. Although in dress rehearsals some late-arriving props are substituted with placeholders, the set pieces and lighting are essential for the show to progress, and with every movement and change of the lights, a programmed cue is required.
“Every time there’s a bump in the music, there’s a new light cue; every time there’s an effect, there’s a new light cue,” Student Technical Manager Beetle Dickson said. “Musicals are longer, too. This show is, what is it like, two and a half hours? It’s long. It’s good, though.”
Since December, the cast and crew have worked day and night to learn, practice, and perfect the musical, which for many students will be their last in CKHS theater.
“I just want to thank everyone who’s been involved for putting their whole heart and soul into this project and encourage everyone to come see their hard work,” Timm said. “That’s what live theater is for; it’s for the audience, and we want a full house to share the talents of our cast.”
The Addams Family musical will have shows Feb. 27 through Mar. 2 and Mar 7. through Mar. 9 in the Performing Arts Center.
*Dani-lou Gemmer is a reporter for The Cougar Chronicle
