In any community, there are special traditions. One in the theater community at Liberty High School is “dark week.” Dark week is the absence of any show work for one week between shows. In this year’s case, it would theoretically be the week of no shows between the play “Hound of the Baskervilles” and “Scarborough Fair,” as well as the week between the end of “Scarborough Fair” and the start of this year’s musical “Legally Blonde.” The difference is, this year, there is no week. There’s a day.
Show breaks tend to provide a reset for those who work on multiple shows, and the fact we don’t have one is causing some concern. Ava Smith, the production stage manager for the play said “I don’t feel too strongly about not having a dark week because I live backstage anyways, but I am worried about the actors. Dark week acts as a week to reset, get caught up on work, rest, and prep for the next auditions. The majority of people who are in the play are also planning on doing Scarborough, so I’m worried there isn’t enough time to have everyone recharged and rested before we run headfirst into another show.”
Actors in the play such as Gali Loevy, who is playing Mrs. Barrymore, are the ones who hold more fear regarding the lack of a break. Loevy’s response to being asked if she was fearing the quick rollover was, “I don’t like that we don’t get a break after the play. It means that we have to prepare for auditions while still working on making the play amazing! For the role of Mrs. Barrymore, I have to do a lot of screaming and crying. So, I suspect that my voice will be gone after closing night. That would really suck for auditions.”
It doesn’t seem to have many positive reactions from anyone, with Selah Lovey depicting that she too, “wish we had a little bit of a break”.
The positive perspective of seeing dark week being taken away is that Scarborough Fair gets started sooner, and while that may be inconvenient for those in the play, the upcoming cast of roughly 200 students tend to suggest that Scarborough Fair is not just a no-cut show, but a beloved no-cut show. Dark week will be missed, but Liberty’s students are staying positive and looking forward to upcoming productions and performances.
*Gali Lovey is a journalism student as well as a cast member that was interviewed and included for the most accurate coverage of the topic.