Hickman’s musical theater production returns to the stage bringing the teen edition of “Chicago” to life.

Everyone in the Hickman community has their favorite scene from their favorite show. Whether the favorite is SpongeBob on stage in 2021, Elle Woods’ enrollment to Harvard in 2022 or little Matilda defeating principal Trunchbull in 2023, Hickman’s theater department is ready to deliver another show-stopping performance. 

Hickman’s theater department’s opportunity to invest into the stage’s customized infrastructure including a glimmering light up sign, red velvet curtains and gold plated sheets breathes life and rewinds the clock to 1920’s Chicago where a story of deceit, murder and rivalry ensue.

Although many students are involved in the theater department, only a handful truly understand what it takes to make a show come to life.

First up, costumes and makeup.

All shows dress to impress.

Saber Hall, a senior and one of the members of the costume department, described the costume department’s role in the show.

“[We] dress all our actors. We get people their costumes, we iron them, make sure they’re looking perfect for the show,” Saber said.

Additionally, they emphasized the investment of time and energy when it came to building an all-school musical, along with its own batch of challenges.

“This show is particularly large. We’ve got a lot of actors, so we’ve had to improvise by getting more hangers, getting more bags for everyone, and just trying to find more space for all of the different costumes that people have,”  Saber said.

Complimenting the costumes department is the hair and make-up crew.

Alyx Renner, a freshman, is participating in their first show.  They shared their experience of hands-on learning from the makeup and hair crew.

“We’re doing a lot of ballroom, 1920s type stuff, and that requires a lot of learning on my part, the team at Hickman, they’re all really great about adaptations and stuff, especially the seniors…They have quite a bit of experience in doing things and helped us to learn quickly,” Alyx said.

Alyx said they get their inspiration and tutorials from none other than: “Pinterest and little YouTube tutorials, just a lot of practice.”

Hickman shows resilience and resourcefulness when it comes to working with its given resources. Older students will pass on the torch and give guidance to Hickman’s new students; there’s always some way these veterans manage to find and solve any hiccups that come their way. 

Tech Directors: “We help with everything we can.”

Hanniah Anderson (11), one of the tech directors this year, defined what it meant to carry this responsibility.

“I kind of make sure that tech is all in order. Anything from our adult tech director, we give out to the rest of tech, make sure that they’re keeping on time with tech meetings and things like that,” Hannaih Said.

She also expanded on exactly what it meant to be a tech director.

“We TDs will help with whatever we can, typically lights and sound,” Hanniah said.

Hanniah recalled a recent challenge she had to overcome regarding creating one of the props for the show.

“We had to make a sign with lights in it yesterday. It was very difficult. It was not live, laugh, or love. [My partner] burned his finger like 30 times on the hot glue. It was a stressful environment,” Hanniah said.

Tech directors occasionally had to step in on all aspects of theater as not everyone can always make it into work days/rehearsals.

“TDs, kind of have a little bit of knowledge on different areas, because we’ve done other crews before, and that helps us with being TDs and knowing our crews,” Hanniah said.

Similar to tech directors, the stage crew works as backstage workers,  bringing the show to life.

Stage Crew: All hands on deck!

Virgil Worstell, a senior this year, expanded on his role in the musical.

“So the stage crew is like the people who move furniture and stuff when the actors aren’t moving that stuff, and I am one of the people in charge of the other stagehands,” Virgil said.

Later in the show, this includes reorganizing the stage as the scenes transition. But that isn’t the only hurdle Virgil had to overcome.

“A big challenge I had to face was the fact that I’m the only person on stage who has done stage crew before, so I had to teach everyone else, which was definitely a challenge,” Virgil said.

The backbones of the musical production, stage crew, hair/make-up, and costumes, make the show possible. On the flip side, “Chicago,” following the tradition of collaborating with Hickman’s band department, includes two other  performing groups: pit and actors.  

Pit/Actors: The face and voice

Actors bring the show to life with their performances of characters built since forever, while the orchestra pit is responsible for providing the sound effects, performing the music and creating an authentic atmosphere for the audience.

“I love “Chicago.” I’ve actually loved musical theater before except I had never had the chance to do piano, but this year I was asked by Sweeney to do so…It’s very vintage and old time-y and jazzy. Super upbeat and very fast and flashy. It gives that flare to the background,” Danitza Esponda, the orchestra pit’s keyboard musician, explained.

“The songs are super catchy, and the dances, because they’re in the 20s style, are entertaining. Everything is flashy and amazing and awesome,” Teeny Franck, the actress playing Mary Sunshine, agreed.

However, adjusting to this spotlight is not an easy task for another actor, Calixte Fox playing Mama Morton with a solo of their own, shared.

“It’s actually been difficult because this is my first big role. It’s been also difficult because the character I’m playing is a lot older, so…trying to act mature,” Cal said.

Ultimately, the theater community has a way of bringing together all circles of people from Hickman’s student body.

“It’s a big time commitment, but it’s very fun. You can still get homework done, believe me,” Saber said. “It’s a big family, really. And there’s nothing better than the stage and that showing it all comes together in the final week. It’s really great.”