See How They Run

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The school’s theater program had gone dark for two years until the lights went up on the April 26 opening night for See How they Run. 

See How They Run is a play by Phillip King that premiered in 1944 in Petersborough, England. The play is set in 1940s England during WWII. There are a total of nine actors in the play — six students from this school and three students from Mount St. Mary. The main characters in the play are Rev. Lionel Toop (sophomore Matthew Lamb) and Lt. Cpl. Clive Winton (senior Eli Rockers). The CHS production had three performances from April 26 to April 28 in addition to a Wednesday night dress rehearsal attended by the CHS Young Alumni. 

Junior Andrew Dillman was the stage manager for the play. “I have this job because Ms. Reynolds asked me if I would be willing to help out,” he said. “I make sure students know their lines, and that they are generally prepared for the events of the day. I will also be helping backstage as we approach the days of the performance.”

Junior Maxx Rathman was the co-stage manager for the school play. “I was asked to be stage manager and I happily accepted,” he said. “I help set up the stage before rehearsals, start each scene, give people their lines or tell them what lines they missed after the end of an act, and anything else I’m asked to do.”

Dillman enjoyed managing the play and working with the actors. “It is quite fun, and a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable experience,” he said. “I am very glad I decided to take on this responsibility. The people are nice and easy to be around, and I enjoy that immensely.”

“It’s a pretty uniform experience,” said Rathman. “We start rehearsals around 3:40 after school and usually run a couple of acts and some specific scenes. Recent weeks have been difficult due to some cast members being behind on knowing their lines.”

Sophomore Antonio Nimmo played the character referred to as the “Intruder” in the play.  “It is really stressful because there is a lot of stuff you have to memorize,” said Nimmo. “I have to do a Russian accent which makes it more difficult to present. 

“Another stressful part of working with the other actors is that we have to know how to help them out as much as possible,” said Nimmo. “For example, you have to know your lines just about exactly so that the other actors know which lines they are supposed to say. I also have to know how to help the others get to their lines if they blank on them without breaking the momentum of the scene we’re in.”

Performing in a play can be a fun experience, especially when one is doing it with friends. “Sometimes when working with people that you do know, you see another side of them,” said Nimmo. “One of my friends is also in the play and I’ve learned a lot more about him.”

One important part of the play is memorizing the lines. “The juniors and seniors have taught me that one is supposed to memorize lines in increments,” said Nimmo. “It is a struggle for me to memorize my lines because I usually forget to do that until the last minute, so having juniors and seniors there to guide me is very helpful.”

Even though the actors try to stay professional in rehearsals, there are moments when they mess up. “A funny moment during one of our initial read-throughs was when Lionel Toop [Eli Rockers] messed up his line,” said Rathman. “He was supposed to say ‘I am my wife’s husband,’ but he instead said, ‘I am my husband’s wife.’”

Essa Kassissieh

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