Westerville North High School 2021-2022 theater season has begun. The actors were the center stage of the production, but there were also many hardworking people behind the scenes. 

   Westerville North’s theatre department put on Steel Magnolias October 21-23.

      Chris Johnson (11) worked the booth for this production. Johnson said that this will be his first show “doing something in the booth… Any sound that’s not gonna be a person talking that’s going to be something that I’m doing.” He was a member of the stage crew until this production. 

   Steel Magnolias is a true story that Robert Harling wrote about his sister and mother. The story takes place in a hair salon in a small town, Louisiana.

   Director Kim Mollohan said the playwright originally was going to write a short story that “eventually evolved into a play …[which] evolved into a film.” 

   The show is produced “many times every year by professional as well as non-professional theaters,” Mollohan said. 

   “I’ve really enjoyed watching it as well as working on it,” Johnson said. 

   Part of the crew’s job is constructing the set. “The crew built us the most amazing beauty salon any director could ever hope for,” Mollohan said. 

    Due to COVID-19, there were some restrictions for theater performances this year. 

   “Our capacity was at 50%.” Mollohan said this was the percentage the district “felt comfortable with for all performances.”

   The actors on stage did not have to wear a mask while they were performing. “The minute they stepped off stage, they had to be masked,” Mollohan said. 

   A number of teachers attended the production. “That meant the world, not only to me, but to the students in the production that their teachers would take their time to give up an evening to come and see the show,” Mollohan said.

   The theater group decided for this production to collect money for a charity. “Over $360 was raised for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,” Mollohan said. 

   Three other productions will be occurring throughout the year:  Senior Directed One Acts—which will be coming up November 18-20—The Little Mermaid and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

   For those interested in trying out theatre,“You just gotta show up… It’s fun to be a part of it,”  Johnson said.