Laughter And Hairpray Analysis

Laughter and hairspray pervade the air backstage as the audience fills the theatre for yet another performance of the Union University theatre department’s first production of the year, a murder mystery set in 1950s film noir style. As the director reminds the cast to treat tonight just like an opening night so as not to lose energy or focus, the crew preps for a busy night that involves everything from making sure a character’s hairstyle is age and period appropriate to ensuring that a sound cue that is critical to the plot goes off exactly when it is supposed to. While the cast brought the script to life, we made sure everything ran smoothly behind the scenes. Everyone involved in the production put on their very best performance possible …show more content…
It was not always easy, but we were able to work through things and learn from our mistakes. Overall, I loved getting a glimpse of what stagehands and technicians do behind the scenes. Seeing the entire production come together in so little time and getting to be a part of that was an experience for which I am grateful. Just a few days before opening night, the actors were still stumbling on lines, forgetting cues, and mixing up blocking. Yet everything came together just in time to open—and audiences loved it. That is the magic of theatre—watching something transform from emotionless words and instructions on a page to an inspirational creative work. We know that it will not last forever—but nothing does. This is why we put so much work into each show that we put on. We theatre kids may desire the spotlight, but it is a very worthwhile experience to work behind the scenes in the dark (literally) at least once in a while. Even when lighting decided to go kaput one day before opening night and our quick changes were not fast enough for the director, everyone kept going and was very supportive of each other. I thoroughly enjoyed working crew for And Then There Were None and it is an experience that I shall not soon