Premiere of ‘Trap’ exceeds cast and crew expectations

Gabby Turvey

The cast for “Trap” runs the dress rehearsal on Oct. 25. They performed on Oct. 26-28 in the auditorium.

Maddie Smith, Reporter

As the premiere of “Trap” by Steven Gregg came to a close both cast and crew were very pleased with the show they produced.

David Hastings, director, said the attendance of the show was “definitely above average for a play at Olathe South.” The average play usually has an audience of 135 to 165 people, and the smallest crowd for Trap was 175 people, and the largest was 240 people. This large turnout may be due to the marketing team, SISSLE.

The marketing kids had the project to promote the show to give them real world experience, and ended up increasing sales by 28 percent. SISSLE stands for Student-Initiated South Side Learning Experience.

Doing a show that had never been done before was sure to have a few problems arise. Cast and crew both worked together to make the process as smooth as possible. Maddie Kindig, junior, said a struggle for her at first was creating her character.

“I had no idea who my character was as first, but as we went through the play it became very natural to play her,” Kindig said.

Part of the shows process included having Steven Gregg, the writer of the play, there to ask questions, and get new ideas from. Having the writer present during the rehearsal process helped everyone in a different way.

From the crew’s point of view, Chase Simmons, senior and assistant director, said it was helpful to “see his thought process behind how everything worked, and how he thought of the show.” From the cast’s point of view, many said him being there clarified the acting choices that they were struggling to make.

The play was adjudicated for both the Kansas State Thespian Conference and the National Thespian Conference.

Kindig said, “It would be validating because when you’re doing a new show, you have no idea how anyone will react to it, so if they like it you know you’ve done something good.”