It’s rare to hear “Slut!” called into an audience of hundreds during a high school musical. For the theatre company’s showing of Mean Girls, the production offers a humorous and satirized take on the American public high school experience.
After opening night, March 28, there have been 4 shows, along with an understudy performance last Saturday. Tonight at 7 is the production’s closing night.
Cady Heron, a homeschooled student who has recently moved from Kenya to North Shore High for her junior year, is played by Shira Ehrlich (12). Karen Smith, the popular member of the clique ‘The Plastics’ is played by Katie Ditter (12). As veteran members of the theatre company, Ehrlich and Ditter have been performing at Westview since freshman year. For their final musical in their high school careers, they expressed their excitement at the opportunity to perform Mean Girls.
“It’s an iconic show,” Ehrlich said. “Everybody knows the movie. Everybody loves Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams and now Reneé Rapp. With the recent remake, everyone has Mean Girls on the brain. We’re excited to put our own version of it out, with its iconic lines and newer jokes that’ll be really fun to hear.”
The rehearsal process has been unique for the show. After auditions in November, rehearsals were slated to start in December. However, with external influences on the staffing of the show, including a sick director and the need to find a replacement music director, rehearsals didn’t start until January. At that point, students in the company took initiative to get the show stage-ready.
“There were a lot of student-led things,” Ehrlich said. “Recently, we’ve had a lot of rehearsals during lunch led by students that would help us get things done. We had section leaders that would help us with music and dance captains to help us with dances.”
After months of six-hour weekend rehearsals and two-and-a-half hour daily after-school rehearsals for music, blocking, and dance, the show was finally ready to take the stage for dress rehearsals. Yet, during the week leading up to opening night, the company put in an additional five hours of rehearsals everyday to prepare.
“What we call ‘Tech Week’ is putting everything together,” Ehrlich said. “For actors, it’s realizing what comes next after each scene. My character is on stage for scenes on end, so knowing what comes next and where I’m supposed to go can be a challenge. Now, putting it together is the process of the technical aspects of the show.”
For Ditter, the time she puts into Tech Week extends past the rehearsal schedule.
“As soon as I get home from my third period, I immediately start straightening my hair, doing my makeup, and getting prepped so that I can be [at Westview] by four, when we actually start putting on mics and costumes,” Ditter said.
In addition to the extensive amount of lines and blocking Ditter experiences playing Karen, she also takes on managing social media content during breaks at dress rehearsals to promote the show.
“We have dinner provided by parents in between first and second act dress rehearsals,” Ditter said. “It’s a good time to take a pause. I make TikToks for the theatre company. It keeps me going because I can do something fun and creative even though [tech week] is stressful.”
However difficult tech week can be, both Ehrlich and Ditter said the uniquely close relationships of the cast make the rehearsals and performances more enjoyable.
“You’re on a stage in front of hundreds of people singing a song or doing a dance that you wouldn’t expect normal friend groups to ever do,” Ehrlich said. “We’re more comfortable with each other and other people because we’re in these vulnerable environments.”
Ditter said her character’s closeness as Karen with the other Plastics has allowed her to get to know the other actresses portraying the Plastics better.
“The theatre company is pretty close, and I feel like I’ve been more into the company because I have such a tight relationship with the three girls that are in the Plastics,” Ditter said.
Ehrlich and Ditter’s friendship translates onstage, helping to build a more complex relationship dynamic between their characters.
“It’s very fun doing the show with Shira, because my character is kind of dumb,” Ditter said. “Every time, I’m trying to make her laugh and do something funny.”
The actresses said their participation in the theatre company has shaped their high-school experiences and how they connect to the other students around them.
“Being in theatre has given me a place at Westview,” Ehrlich said. “It’s given me an opportunity to connect with a lot of different people, not just the people who are involved in theatre, but also the people that come to see our shows.”
After participating in every show, between shows in the amphitheater during freshman year with COVID regulations, fall plays, spring musicals, and student-directed “One Acts,” Ditter knows the conclusion of her time on-stage at Westview will stay with her for years to come.
“It’s like the culmination of being a senior,” Ditter said. “It hasn’t hit yet, and I don’t think it will until the senior bow, and I’m like, ‘this is it.’ I know the memories that I’ve created over my four years here will last forever.”
