Displayed along the walls of the music hallway, most members of the RM community have likely seen the drama club’s array of past promotional posters. From The Crucible in 2009 to Hello, Dolly! in 2023, the Black Maskers’ annual fall performance is part of a long-standing legacy of student-led production. This year, that production is The Wizard of Oz.
The drama club is separated into two sections, the actors and crew. Within the crew, there are a variety of different sections, including sound and technology, a set decoration crew, a social media crew, a costume crew, and many others. At the Black Maskers, there’s a spot for everybody. This year, the show is planning on using actors from outside of the RM student body. “Fourth and fifth graders from the feeder schools are helping us out,” sophomore Liena Gonsalves said.
Even once students are a part of drama, there can be other challenges that come with being a part of a student’s production. This year, The Wizard of Oz as a play poses unique challenges. “Part of it is a 40-foot-long rainbow that will stretch from one end of the stage to another. We have to build that. How do we build a 40-foot rainbow?” junior member of the Junior Board of the club Caroline Murphy said. Other issues can include poor equipment. “I’m [also] on Sound crew and our mics kind of break really frequently. Like, okay, if the mic breaks right now, how do we fix that? So it’s a lot of problem-solving, sometimes at the last minute, like, way in advance,” said Murphy.
Questions like these set up the team to prevent things that could go wrong and aid them in having a successful play. Thanks to the students in the Black Maskers club, every year students of all backgrounds have an opportunity to express themselves creatively and freely without judgment. Every year, students see their peers in a different setting and realize that there are endless possibilities of what you could be. “I really like doing the play. It’s something that gets me out of my bed and gets me doing stuff and makeup,” junior makeup crew member Paige Kaluzenski said.
“It’s not like some class where it’s like, I have to go do Wizard of Oz. It’s like, no, people really want to be there. Everyone genuinely loves it,” Murphy said.
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