Walking down the path of a Drama Club student isn’t as easy as people think. Drama club students take lots of time out of their day to bring plays to their high schools and competitions.

“In middle school, practices would usually go from around the end of school to 5 or 4:30,” freshman Christopher Knapp said. “But now that I’m in high school, it’s way longer. We have almost an entire month where we’d have to stay until around 10 every night.”

Behind the scenes, Drama Clubs students work hard to keep up with their lives and still do their best in Drama Club.

“I definitely do sometimes fall behind on my homework,” freshman Markitta Bault said, “Then, there is going to practice every night, getting there on time, making sure that you have time to get to practice, and splitting time with other activities that you’re doing.”

They spend their time in several different places to both practice and perform.

“Most practices are held in either McHale or in the rehearsal room, and some of them are held in the choir room when we’re doing vocals,” senior Casen Lake said.

A majority of the time, a Drama Club member may not be chosen for the role they wanted to perform.

“I kind of expect not to be chosen,” Bault said. “But, I know that there are other people who know how to bring that character to the play, and I can help bring out that character for them by being a side character. I try to make my character as cool as I can as well.”

There’s a lot that goes into choosing who will play a certain role in the performance.

“They’ll have vocal, acting, and dancing auditions,” Knapp said. “You’ll sing a couple of warm-ups, read a couple of lines from the script, dance a little, and see your skill level. Then the director, Mr. Kinney, will decide who he wants in each role.”

After all the work that goes into preparing for the play, getting on stage is just as difficult.

“It comes with a lot of confidence and build-up to get up on stage and act out scenes,” Lake said.

So much work goes into the plays that Drama Club members may have to drop other activities.

“I had to quit wrestling for Drama Club,” Knapp said. “ It’s a big commitment, and it makes me happy. That’s why I do it. I love the environment. I love the people. Even if I go to school physically and mentally drained that day, I go to practice and it brings my spirits up again. That’s what I look forward to every day.”