Panther Creek’s spring musical is Little Women. While most students only view our school’s productions in their final form, months of work goes into making these performances possible. The first task, of course, being auditions.
With a new theater director at PC this year, it is no surprise that the audition process for the Little Women musical has changed from previous years. Kara Troy, a senior and seasoned actress for PC’s theater department, commented on the short preparation time given to the aspiring actors: “We found out our songs we were singing for auditions and callbacks much later than we usually do: it was the day before and basically the day of.”
With that time frame, some actors expressed difficulty finding time to prepare; one student said she “didn’t have the time to practice that I wanted to,” but that she ultimately made the most of it.
Junior Steven Spencer started his interview with compliments to PC’s new theater director, Mrs. Trimmer, and expressed his excitement to be working with her. One thing he noted was that the audition process as a whole was much longer than in the past, saying that “in previous years it’s only taken a week to decide roles, but this time it’s taken about three weeks.”
With so many talented students auditioning, it is no surprise that careful deliberation has been a part of this process. The actors themselves also put a lot of time into their auditions, and each had their own way of preparing.
Spencer and Troy both mentioned making Quizlets to help them memorize their lines and give the best performance possible. When it comes to the music and songs, junior Katherine Wardlow said she prepared well before her audition: “I brought the music to my voice teacher before the audition and we went over it together.”
Auditioning itself is only the first part of the cast decision process: after the conclusion of the first auditions, Mrs. Trimmer made a callback list of actors she wanted to see again for certain roles. Notably, Troy was called back for Jo March, the lead of the musical and her dream role for this production. When asked before her callback about if she thought she would get the role, she responded with a positive outlook, saying “I feel very prepared for anything they can throw at me and I’ve really wanted it for a while so I hope so.”
Spencer also commented on the competition for the role of Jo and his excitement for the cast list release. “I’m really excited to see Jo,” he said in his interview. “Whoever plays Jo, I’m excited to see that… I can’t wait to see who I star with and I love this cast… everyone is so talented and we can all sing.”
Other callbacks included senior Anna Higley for Marmee and Amy, Wardlow for Meg and Aunt March, and Spencer for Laurie and Mr. Brooke.
The cast list for the production was released (see right) after the interviews were conducted, and all the people who were called back by Mrs. Trimmer eagerly walked down the performing arts hallway to see their given role. Ultimately, Kara Troy was given the role of Jo March, with Spencer set to portray Laurie, Wardlow to act as Aunt March, and Higley with the role of Clarissa/Meg.
Little Women is set to have its opening night in late April, so be on the lookout for tickets to what is shaping up to be an amazing production.