FRISCO, TEXAS — Centennial High School’s theatre department puts on a stellar production that captures eyes and attention every year. From the hours of rehearsal to the final moments on the stage, every student involved works diligently, whether on stage or not. This year was no different. The Centennial High School Fine Arts department presented “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” from Jan. 16th-18th, a musical where students from every fine arts department on campus helped in the production.
The fine arts directors had to work together to put on the show. Many challenges arose that made things more difficult. Theatre teacher Mr. Moore discusses the hardest parts of putting things together.
“[I] think the merging of the orchestra and actors together [was hard]. Because we all practice separately and come together a week or so before the show, the first few days are always rough trying to get everyone on the same page.” Mr. Moore says.
Over 150 students have come together to make this musical come to life. All of the intricate parts of the production had to work together, practicing their parts to come together and make a whole. In addition to the hard work of the actors and actresses on stage, the orchestra and band played music in the pit, bringing the audience to the musical’s setting, and the dance department had five student dance officers and other drill team members devise choreography and dance in four featured production numbers.
That’s not all the students have done. Many audience members noticed the large sets that brought the musical to life. Samantha Hengstenberg, a junior in the theatre department, designed these sets.
Hengstenberg won third place in the state last year for Technical UIL set design for the show “Hadestown.” With this experience, she had the opportunity to design the sets for the musical.
“The hardest things about designing and building the set for Hunchback were all of the logistics,” Hengstenberg said. “The limited time we had to actually build the set was due to other departments’ use of the stage and middle school band concert season, as well as the limited number of people that could help build the set.”
More students came together for the musical, such as the choir, which sang many songs in the show. Two choirs were on the stage for the entire musical, acting as a chorus that the show centers around.
Junior Adithi Chiranji, a member of the Acapella Choir, shares her thoughts on participating in the musical.
“My favorite part of the musical so far has definitely been singing and following that, being able to sit back and see the theatre department do their thing. They are all incredibly talented, and it is so enjoyable to see them put their all at every rehearsal.”
The process has been long, with everyone in the fine arts department working together to ensure things went well. The whole production relied on collaboration to communicate with each other and get ideas to their respective departments.
Mrs. Gonzalez, the teacher for the dance department, shares how the teachers overcame the obstacles that came with this musical.
“A lot of time went into planning, coordinating, and organizing for the musical.” Mrs. Gonzalez comments, “We did a great job communicating and collaborating with one another to anticipate what problems and roadblocks we might encounter throughout the process.”
Jan. 16 was the musical’s opening night when friends and family could come to see all the work the students have put into the show. The teachers could not be more proud of their students, and they encouraged all the students in the production.
Mr. Larocca, the choir director, told students to enjoy every moment. “This is an art we are lucky to create with one another, and at 9 o’clock on Saturday night, this community of people that came together to create this beautiful show will never get to be in the same space working on something like this ever again.”
After four more successful shows were performed for the public, everyone’s work paid off. If you want to keep up with the theatre department, follow the Titan Theatre Instagram @titantheatre7001 to see what they perform next. The work is never over, and more great shows are bound to be coming Centennial’s way.
