With the opening night of CHS9’s annual fall show, freshmen students are eager to showcase their first high school production.
The CHS9 theater company performs “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” on tonight, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m in the CHS9 Band Hall. General admission is $5 for Coppell ISD students and staff wearing identification and $10 for the general public.
Unlike traditional plays “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” lets the audience decide the order of the show and how it will progress throughout the night. CHS9 theater director Eugenia Montoya is excited to showcase this play as it has an interactive approach to theater.
Usually theater is done on a stage in linear order though this show will not be performed on a stage but the band hall. The actors perform 30 plays but the audience decides the order of the show making it different every night.
Cast members depend on each other with memorization of lines and blocking, a theatrical word used to describe the location and movement actors make on stage.
“The play is sectioned weird so we have to practice together a lot and we have to pay attention very closely but I like it because I get to be with my friends in the process,” CHS9 emcee Jayath Yamunan said.
Every rehearsal is fast-paced and filled with the excitement and thrill of how each show will turn out.
“It’s really fun when you are blocking and practicing during rehearsal, it’s all very reactionary and lighting speed,” Yamunan said. “It’s stressful to do everything in a timely manner but it also adds to it being fun.”
Overseeing the show the CHS9 stage manager Zainab Mohammad, appreciates the hard work that the actors have put into this production. She sees potential in all the actors and believes that no matter what happens, they will give their all to pull through.
“At the beginning of the play it was comical watching everyone,” Mohammad said. “Nobody knew what was going on, but now l everyone has things to do, places to go and I know that they are capable of doing what is expected of them.”
The cast is thrilled to perform for the community.
“It’s cool to see the play come together and l how we are starting to interact with the audience instead of just reading lines,” CHS9 emcee Elizabeth Cumming said. “I’m just excited to perform our show.”
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