With the new year starting, there is a lot coming up in Oswego High School’s theater department. There are rehearsals happening every day, auditions approaching for the year’s biggest production, and improv nights. It’s a busy, busy month, and there is even more coming up throughout the spring season. With that in mind, who is in charge of planning all of this and putting it together?
The Standing O Theatre Company is led by its very own Guild, which consists of four positions: senior Tessa Melton as president, senior Kylie Ramos as vice president, senior Ethan Rhoades as secretary, and junior Madi Mata as head of public relations.
“Our job is to combine the thoughts and ideas of our club sponsor, Mrs. Conant, with a student perspective and come up with the most effective way to put new/existing ideas into place and present them to other students in the company,” Mata says in an email to 42Fifty.
Mata holds a tough job that requires a lot of communication on behalf of the Standing O Theatre Company.
“I run all of our social media accounts, our website, and I’m the person in charge of getting information about our company out to our students, their families, and the community,” Mata says.
With COVID impacting the drama department and its events, Mata’s role has become even more important. On the Company’s Instagram account, she has to consistently share information about meetings, performance dates, and audition opportunities.
“[COVID] has put barriers against some of the best ways we’ve promoted in the past or were hoping to promote now, like taking trips to our middle school students to talk about our company,” Mata says. “But it is nothing that we haven’t attempted to adapt to.”
Melton feels similarly, as she dedicates most of her schedule to the Standing O Theatre Company and has to find ways to plan ahead for the limited meetings the Guild has.
“I think we lacked a little inspiration when we weren’t seeing each other every day,” Melton says. “Whether it’s meeting notes, or agenda meetings, or stuff with the junior highs that are by us, [I] try to think of those new ideas so that when we’re in Guild meetings we can just present the ideas we have.”
Being on the Guild can be very demanding of these students’ schedules, and this month is leading up to the company’s busiest season yet. The Guild plays a big role in every theater production and event in the Standing O Theatre Company; it plans for potential dates, audition processes, and even promotion of every event.
“Right now, the biggest thing is trying to think ahead of what we need for the musical, [and] how are musical auditions working,” Melton says. “[We are] also gradually figuring out the international thespian honors society now so that by the end of the year when we have people applying, the induction is easy.”
The company has many events coming up: the Winter Play “Skits and Giggles 4: The One with the Masks” next month, an improv show in March, the Spring Musical “Chicago” in April, and end-of-the-year banquets and bashes in May. Being a part of the Standing O Theatre Company takes a lot of accountability on its own when it comes to daily rehearsals and varying performances, so the Guild is taking on a great deal these next few months as it plans and perfects every upcoming event.
You can buy tickets here for the Standing O Theatre Company’s Winter Play, “Skits and Giggles 4: The One with the Masks,” performing on Feb. 10 and 11.
My name is Tori Trevino, and this is my second year being a part of the 42Fifty staff. This is my senior year of high school, and I am involved in school activities like Speech Team, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, and Democracy School. My love for music and film made my role as Arts and Entertainment editor last year so much fun, and I am beyond excited to be Editor-in-Chief for 42Fifty this year!
