In January 2024, Trottier will present their first musical of the year, HONK! Jr. Auditions have passed and the cast list has come out. There are thirty students that are participating in this musical and are very excited to be a part of the Trottier theater club. The club is led by Mrs. Penzone, Mrs. Morris, and Mrs. Alzapiedi. HONK! Jr. will be showing starting on January 25, 2024 and ending on January 27, 2024.

To start the preparations for the show, Mrs. Penzone works with choreography, costumes, and tech (lights, etc.) Mrs. Morris is the director who does the blocking. Mrs. Alzapiedi works with the music, vocals, and songs. All three of them have worked together in Trottier’s theater for sixteen years. The club goes way back and most likely started very early on in Trottier. 

After auditions and the cast list comes out, the actors begin to stay after school for rehearsals. The rehearsals vary for actors and how much they are needed at the rehearsal dates. At some rehearsals, actors work with Mrs. Alzapiedi and work on music. Others may work on rehearsing their own scenes if not included in the musical number. On other days, Mrs. Penzone will teach choreography and Mrs. Morris will teach blocking. Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Penzone stated after they start preparing for a show, they “rely on the students being responsible for their job. After January break we try to have students off book” (off book means lines memorized as well as blocking and choreography). Students can also participate in Stage Crew who helps the show progress in ways of lighting, sets, technology and other contributions, which make the show very special.

Not many people may know that the future shows and productions at Trottier depend on the profits from the previous year’s shows. It is pretty surprising. For example, say the musical in the winter had awesome ticket sales and made a large profit. That profit would go towards the next production. If that show does not do well on profiting, the next production would have a smaller budget to go from. The teachers try to reuse costumes and props as much as they can, trying not to waste money on very specific costumes/props for each show. 

Like stated before, the teachers say it’s really the students that matter. Last year in “Meet The Creeps”, they had such a big cast, they had to split it into 2. This was difficult but the actors took matters into their own hands and practiced a LOT! They put a lot of effort into making sure they rehearsed and were ready for rehearsal.  Many reasons why productions have been successful (according to the directors) is because of student leadership, tech, digital sets/props, involvement, and more leadership has become key. 

Trottiers most popular and successful show was High School Musical Jr. a couple years ago. Usually the cast is what drives the sales and the cast number was 65 people for that show! It depends on the cast members on who comes. This is because the more people in the show, the more families and relatives of those cast members come to the show. Trottier’s show, Meet the Creeps, was definitely a success because of how huge the cast was.

As preparations for the show come to an end, the shows will be happening on January 25, 2024 (in school), January 26, 2024, and January 27, 2024. Visit the drama website to learn more about the dates and showtimes. Trottier Theater club has awesome opportunities and is very fun and popular and a great way to participate in theater productions.