Simon Lea
Five Shows

Q: What has being in the theater meant to you?
A: It has allowed me to dig deep into characters. Because outside of school, I work mostly on voice acting, so being in Laguna theater has allowed me to do both. So that I can utilize the techniques learned in play production and school theatre in general.

Q: How do you prepare for an audition?
A: If it’s a non-musical audition, I read over the play to get a sense of the characters and get an idea of what their motives are. If it’s a musical audition, I will choose an excerpt from the production that I can explore and work with enough so that I understand the character and the music

Beau Glazier
Seven Shows

Q: What is your favorite role you have played at Laguna?
A: Martha in “The Games Afoot” because I’ve never been able, in any of my other roles, to be eccentric like that and play someone that was so far out of my comfort zone.

Q: What is your ultimate dream role?
A: If someone made “Harold and Maude” into a show, I would want to play Maude even though I would have to age about 60 years.

Julianna Slater
Eight Shows

Q What is your pre-show ritual?
A: I really don’t have one. I tend to be pretty comfortable on stage. It’s more the minute I get on stage that my brain flips the switch.

Q: What has being in the theater meant to you?
A: When I prepare for an audition, I focus on preparing my song. I pick the song based upon the character I want to play, and usually, it comes from a show. I listen to the song on repeat and then work through it verse by verse. I learn the melody, the tune, the words. And then I continue to listen to the song. One way I like to memorize my music, I write down the entire song from memory as a way to feel more comfortable in my lyrical memorization.

Q: Do you have a post-show ritual?
A: We always go to McConnell’s as a group, both cast, crew and theater supporters. Charlie always plays music from the show before and after every show to hype us all up. Half of the time its music from “Grease.”

Q: What is your favorite on-stage fail story?
A: When Aidan, during “Grease,” came on stage and dropped the very, very expensive mic from his sweat pants and said the F word on stage, opening night.
And in “The Games Afoot,” opening night, Jack threw the gun under the table and Caetano couldn’t find it anywhere, so Caetano used his hand as a gun instead.

Sydney Hlavaty
Three Shows

Q: How had being in a crew been a positive experience for you, and what made you switch to being on stage?
A: Being in the crew made me appreciate all of the aspects of theater that go on behind the scenes and how much work it really takes to put on a production. It also gave me a chance to try out managing, carpentry, and even a little of directing. My friends encouraged to audition, and I remember loving being on stage from middle school productions so I wanted to bring that back into my life.

Q: What is your dream show to be a part of
A: My dream to be a part of is “West Side Story” because the music is amazing and the story is intricate and emotional.

Dante Christe
Six Shows

Q: What pushed you to start being a part of the play in your senior year
A: Because it was my senior year, I wanted to do something big. And I was already a part of theater classes, and so I was ready to move into being in the play .

Q: What favorite part about being in the theater?
A: Because I take a lot of math and science course, the theater is something entirely different than what I usually do. It makes it fun and even a little relaxing. That’s why I’ve stuck with theater.

Caetano Perez
Six Shows

Q: What is your favorite behind the scene theater story?
A: My favorite story was when Jack Stein, Julianna Slater and I were working on the bar scene for “The Game’s Afoot,” we kept messing up the drinks and getting Julianna’s ‘dead body’ in order. We had so much trouble trying to get Julianna’s corpse perfectly stuck inside the retractable bar.
Q: What is the most challenging part of being an actor?
A: For me, the hardest thing is not acting like a goof on stage every five minutes. We are a funny bunch and it makes it difficult to concentrate on more serious, heavy serious scenes. We are so tight-knit that somehow everything we do is funny.

Charlie Jacobs
Ten Shows

Q: What is your favorite part of being a stage manager?
A: It’s cool getting to see all the different aspects of how a show comes together. I get to see the actors rehearsing, the sets being designed, and how all the pieces finally fit together. So I am able to see all the different aspects of a show work together.
Q: Any fun booth stories/traditions?
A: We used to always have Oreos in the booth at every show. We would buy them on opening night and them eat them throughout the three shows. We also always have all cast and crew dance parties, both before and after the shows. It’s a fun way for us to get the jitters out, myself included. And on opening night, if there are any first-time crew members, we have them sign the wall that we call ‘The Tech Wall of Fame.’