With the fall theater season rapidly approaching, new leaders are taking the stage.

Senior Fiona Giffen is the new stage manager for Susquehannock High School Theater during the upcoming 2024-25 season. She has been involved with the theater program since her Sophomore year, working with set construction, props and, last year, acting as assistant stage manager for the fall play “Lost Girl” and spring musical “Once Upon A Mattress.”

Giffen has great responsibility in the role of stage manager for the production as a whole.

“I have to supervise everyone,” Giffen said. “I have to go to all the cast rehearsals to take notes and observe, and then, crew-wise, I go to the builds and help out where I’m needed. When it comes to the actual show, I’m the one backstage leading it and making sure everything is running smoothly and everyone is where they need to be.”

Giffen is aware of the aspects of the production where challenges may arise during her first show as stage manager.

“Definitely with all of our wet tech rehearsals, and going into all our tech rehearsals,” Giffen said.
“Wet tech is when we have a full tech rehearsal with the actors included.Tech is the technical aspect of theater. Lights and sounds and all of the people backstage, and props. A challenge I could face is making sure everything is ready to go on time, and everyone is where they should be on time so the show can open and run smoothly.”

International Thespian Society (ITS) president and lead for the theater’s sound team Ava Silliman is also new to being a student leader. She describes many of the challenges that can arise with this role.

“The hardest part of being a student leader is that there’s always something to do,” Silliman said. “We’re always planning something: rehearsals, meetings, promotion, recruiting, fundraising … there’s so many moving parts to account for, and there’s always work to do. But it’s also incredibly rewarding to be able to make an impact on our theater program at SHS, which definitely makes it all worth it!”

Silliman explains ITS and the role of the students in the organization.

“Each participating school has their own troupe with student members that are involved in making their school’s theatrical productions possible,” Silliman said. “The members of our ITS troupe range from actors, crew members, set constructors and costume artists. Students in ITS are able to be involved in the decision-making of the theater program and a lot of the details in the creation of our shows.”

Silliman explains how theatrical productions here at SHS would not be possible without ITS.

“First of all, we do a lot of fundraising to be able to create our shows by holding things like car washes and spirit nights, and ITS members volunteer their time to make that fundraising possible,” Silliman said. “ITS members also contribute to the promotion of our shows by doing things like putting up posters around the community, posting about the shows on social media, and inviting their friends and family.”

As things are gearing up for the fall play, some worries arise for the theater’s crew.

“We are understaffed,” Giffen said. “…and we don’t have any adults in our tech department. So, we are three weeks behind when it comes to cast rehearsals. But when it comes to tech, we are going to be at least a month behind. So a worry would be having to rush and be there after school every single day to make sure things get done on time.”

Despite many of the challenges that the production may face, the school and community has much to look forward to with this year’s fall play, “Cheaper By The Dozen.”

“‘Cheaper By The Dozen’ is set in the 1920s and follows a family of 12 kids, narrated by two of the children as they reflect on their childhoods through a series of flashbacks,” Silliman said. “Throughout the play, the kids learn more about their family and how they all fit in. People can definitely look forward to the hilarious sibling banter and truly genuine family interactions that are everywhere in this show. We can’t wait to build this show and get it onstage for everyone to see.”

Giffen hopes people will come and support this year’s play.

“We put in so much hard work,” Giffen said. “We have to give up all of our weekends and free time to do this, so people should come and appreciate all the work we put into it.”

Putting on a show can be a huge challenge, but it remains to be an exciting and engaging event for the school, community and everyone involved. Giffen comments on her love for theater and why she keeps coming back, year after year.

“I wasn’t really too into theater before I joined,” Giffen said. “I think what I really liked about it was that it gave me a second home, and another family of people that I could go to. I’m a very creative person, so I liked being able to build stuff and paint stuff and have fun with people, and now I have all these friends and these relationships that have come out of it. So it’s really just about the people, that’s what I love so much about it.”

You can see “Cheaper By the Dozen” the weekend prior to Thanksgiving break, Nov. 15 -17.