The Addams Family

Addams+Family+cast

Photo Courtesy of: Theatre Instagram

Addams Family cast

Avrie Vohs, Journalist
March 21, 2023

 Shadow Ridge Theatre presented the musical of the year, “The Addams Family” on February 23rd through the 25th. The actors had been practicing non stop beforehand and had spent an enormous amount of time working and preparing for the show. During auditions, actors had to memorize a song, monologue, and dance. Auditions were for 3 days. 

Junior, Kendra Hemmerle, was doing another play at the time of auditions so it was a little stressful.

“For auditions I had to prepare a lot,” Hemmerle says. “I had to memorize a monologue and the song part that I chose. It was a little stressful because at that time, I still had the other play going on. There was a weekend in between so it was ok. I wasn’t really stressed though because I knew my stuff and memorized it all. I don’t really get nervous at auditions because I was prepared enough for it.”

Sophomore Angelo Cruza, is in the theater class at Shadow. He enjoys acting and was extremely excited to be in the play!

“For one I auditioned because I had to, being in theater class makes it so you have to audition for plays, though you don’t have to take a part if you opt out of it,” he explains. “I chose to opt in for a part so I could prove myself to, well, myself, you know not be a waste of potential and all that jazz.” 

Cruza is an introvert and keeps to himself a lot. Being in the play has gotten him out of his comfort zone and helped him make a bunch of new friends.

“

I really enjoy being a part of something and helping create it. I really enjoy acting, I have for many many years.

— Kendra Hemmerle

“When you join it’s a lot of fun, you get a good sense of family when you’re in a cast, though I may not be the best person to say that since I kept to myself a lot,” Cruza says. “It’s also really rewarding when it’s finally show night and you’re acting on stage in front of a big crowd.

Hemmerle has been doing theater for a while, but had not done it for school in a very long time. She was super excited to start this year, and had prepared for it.

“This year I was actually a part of a school production,” she  says. “In previous years my other school didn’t do anything like that. In middle school we had just started Drama Club, we all had chosen a play and I was one of the leads. But then Covid hit, so we couldn’t go through with it. In 9th grade it was all online stuff and so I was like ‘no I’m not going to do that.’ Then in 10th grade my school that I was going to at that time, didn’t even have theater. I was involved in some local theaters where I lived and we were doing a play and right before casting, my dad  pulled me out of it. It overlapped with his work schedule and so I was really disappointed. I love acting and being involved.”

During a play, there are people behind who set the whole thing up. This involves stage hands, stage managers, lights, and sound. Sophomore Sage Talley was a sound technician and this was her first time doing it. This is Talley’s second year in Tech and it’s way different from last year.

All the techs for the show (Photo courtesy of: Theatre Instagram)

“This year actually is quite different from last year in tech,” she says. “As a Tech I, there’s a lot of learning because we need to be taught how to safely use power tools, set up lighting, etc. However, as a Tech ll, all we do is build and design in class. It’s a lot of fun, and we get the freedom to build parts of the set or props however we want. This year is also much more fun than last year because I’ve been taught many more aspects of tech and can do a lot more things. This year I’ve done less shows than last year just due to not having enough time, but I’m still having a lot of fun with it.”

Talley originally wanted to be on the stage, but her stage fright got to her.

“Before I went into high school, I wanted to be in theater,” Talley explains. “However, I got scared and had some stage fright so I dropped my theater elective and switched it for theater tech, because if I couldn’t act, I still wanted to be part of the shows. Now, I love theater tech way more than acting. It’s so much cooler to be behind the scenes and help make the plays possible for the actors. I definitely recommend theater tech to anybody who wants to be involved but is afraid of acting.”