The fine arts department put on the play The Curious Savage Oct. 25 through the 27.  It is the story of an elderly widow named Mrs. Savage, whose husband has left her $10 million dollars. She intends to give the entire fortune away to people who wish to pursue their “foolish dreams,” but her stepchildren strongly object. It was shown in Darlington’s own Black Box theatre.

Preparing months in advance, the fine arts department created a cast and crew who built and painted the set, made costumes, worked on transitions and made sure all technical needs were in place. With so many different positions to fill, it is hard to decide which one is for you. Sophomore Sara Jo Pierce, junior Harrison Inman and senior Moa Berglund give their takes as members of the team. Pierce shares what it took for her to land the role as Dr. Emmett.

“I really think it was how I acted so professionally, because my role was supposed to be a doctor,” Pierce said. “But also the final screaming at Titus, I really let out everything on that scene and had the facial expressions that she [Shelley Daniel, casting director] wanted in Dr. Emmett.”

Pierce went on to speak about how she and her fellow cast members bonded to make the characters’ dynamics on stage so endearing.

“Every single day we would practice. We would also help each other with lines. We had a really good chemistry, the entire cast, we all just helped each other out, and we would talk in the dressing room and think about all sorts of things.”

Inman continues telling us about being an actor, as he landed the role of Titus, the eldest stepson of Mrs. Savage who is often described as sober, humorless, and direct. He was also asked what landed him this role.

“I think, honestly, my ability to use my loud and demanding presence on stage, which Titus kind of needs.” Inman said. “He is supposed to be the biggest, loudest and angriest person on the stage.”

Inman also went into detail about the type of tasks the cast performed beforehand, and how he went about them with the people he had on screen chemistry with. He had to build the set, but he was more focused on his dynamic with the characters.

“It was a lot of building the set and just trying to find chemistry between all of the actors.” Inman said. “To realize your character and how they would feel and how they would feel in certain situations. For me, it was just feeling how Titus would react to certain things and how they [the characters] would make him angry or how he would try to stay calm and to not lose his cool to keep his public image as a senator.”

We then spoke with Berglund, who was the stage manager of the show. She has been the stage manager for two years in a row, saying she has learned to love it. Berglund spoke about the process she and her crew went through to get the show ready behind the scenes.

“We did a lot of work before tech week, but still a lot of it was done during tech week. We don’t really build the set, we just kind of help stagecraft finish what they haven’t finished yet.” Berglund said. “We did a lot of costuming during iPeriod. Stagecraft builds half of it and we build half of it. During tech week we paint the set, we source props from the attic and it’s just a whole jumble of mess until two days before the show. It’s a very trust the process.”

When asked about how the other crew member interacted and help, she explained.

“We have the stage crew work with prop changes. Then there is costume crew that helps the actors get into costume. We are all one in the same and help each other wherever anyone needs it.”

At the end of each interview the students were asked why they chose cast over crew, or vice versa. Pierce and Inman responded that it was just a passion they had and enjoyed acting on stage. Berglund had a more enlightening response.

“I think it was sophomore year, first time at Darlington, spur-of-the-moment decision.” Berglund said. “I had done performances in the past and not enjoyed them as much. I don’t like being in the spotlight but I still like to contribute a lot. I thought that being a crew member could still put on something that gives a performance, just not under the spotlight.”