The Foreigner is a two-act comedy that will be redone by our AHS drama team on November 3rd, 4th, 10th, and 11th at 7 pm.

Scott Moberly, the Arlington High School play director, says that ¨the humor [in the play] is awesome.¨

Sam Forsell(´20), in the running crew for The Foreigner, loves the bonding experience that she gets in drama. Her favorite part of being involved is when she can “create really good friendships through the whole experience.”

There are many intricate parts of the play, however, that are not considered by the average theatergoer.

Picking and Announcing a Play

In March, before the fall play, Scott Moberly, play director, has to decide what play he wants his students to act in. He usually goes through 10-20 different plays before he finds the right one.

This March, Moberly chose The Foreigner as this year’s fall play because of it’s humor, theme, and its “tight ensemble,” of cast members. He said that it gives the cast and crew a unique challenge that the other 30+ plays he’s done has not.

Once he has chosen a play, he announces it in June.

Auditions

Now that Moberly has a play picked out, he needs a cast for it. In fall, he holds multiple auditions, some for cast and some for crew. Anyone that is interested can come.

He has the cast do a variety of things, such as dancing and acting. After that, he posts “callbacks.” This a list of everyone that he wants to see again for a one-on-one audition.

Once he reviews everybody, he makes tough decisions about who best portrays each role. Then he posts an official list of cast members and their parts. He does the same for the crew.

Learning and Practicing

After finding a cast and a crew, Moberly meets with them regularly to help them practice in “a mental test of engaging with the script to create… the best possible play.”

Each cast member learns their parts and tries their best to “become” their character. They read over their scripts, line-by-line, and start to memorize.

The crew for the play is also vigorously working here. They have to plan what they will do for the play, such as lighting, sound, and props.

Braeden Brooks(’18), the lightboard operator for The Foreigner, says that everyone involved seems “like one family.”

Rehearsing

Once the crew is prepared and everyone has memorized their parts, they arrange a time to rehearse the play.

Normal rehearsals are for certain parts of the play. For example, Moberly could arrange a meeting for everyone in the beginning of the play to practice just the beginning scene. Here, everyone involved gets to tidy up their parts.

After that, Moberly arranges tech rehearsals. This is where they run the entire play, from start to finish, to make sure everyone is prepared and that their parts are as good as they can get them. The hardest part is “getting all those little things right,¨ said Moberly.

Performing

Now is time for the part of the play that people see: the actual performance.

The cast and crew of the play arrive before it starts and take one last look at their parts before they go on stage. One person comes out to introduce the play, and then it begins.

There will usually be an intermission in the middle, and the play ends later. Then, most people leave and only think about the performance itself, without taking a chance to consider all that has taken place behind-the-scenes.

Mr. Moberly loves ¨knowing all the things it takes to” create a play, and you should too.