“Night of Scenes,” originally scheduled for three nights, was hosted in Rezac Auditorium on Feb. 19 and 20 after two snow days last week cut into rehearsal time.

“Both performances went really [well],” sophomore Alessandra Porres said. “It kind of sucked that we only had two instead of three but we had to work with what we had considering the two snow days that we had.”

The show consisted of eight acts, each around 10 minutes long. The acts were “Boogie Down,” directed by senior Rita Claire Turner; “Is Soup a Drink?” directed by Alorrah Wileman; “Lives in the Wind,” directed by juniors Anna Keenan and Rachael Kovar; “Memory,” directed by seniors Armando Alicea-Perez, Bryceson Harris and Jaylei Meares; “Tank,” directed by seniors Max Barbe and Danny Galitzer and junior Hunter Phillips; “Tech Trouble?” directed by senior Nicole Savage; “The Fourth Wall,” directed by seniors Riley Fong and Zane Pierson; and “Time Corp,” directed by senior Tori Neilson and junior Emmett Spaw.

A big shock for some of the people involved in “Night of Scenes” was how well the second night went. Typically, actors will act cocky after the first performance, which tends to affect the second performance.

“Our second night performance was definitely a lot better, which is kind of shocking because usually second nights go worse because the actors get cocky and we just are way too confident in our skills,” Porres said, “but actually night two went a lot better which is quite surprising.”

Prior to a show, some of the actors and directors will panic a little. However, because it’s not safe to be in large gatherings, the theatre program has had a hard time putting on performances. For the most part, people were excited to get back on stage and put on a show.

“In past years, I’ve been jittery and nervous right before a show,” Savage said. “This year, I felt mainly excitement. I was overjoyed at the opportunity to finally perform. I love theatre and due to COVID-19, I haven’t been able to share my passion with the world.”

For both nights, there were no severe issues. Everyone was able to make it on stage on time with working microphones, the props were all correct and if something went wrong, it was fixed immediately.

“If something went wrong, we were able to come back and fix it or pretend like nothing happened,” Porres said. “The second night, like I said, had gone a lot better, which was shocking but we had to become more tight of a group and you could tell that we were closer. We were feeling our characters more and the audience was laughing a lot more the second night, but really so much went well.”

Because of the two snow days, it affected the rehearsal time of “Night of Scenes.” Dress rehearsals were originally supposed to be after school last Tuesday and Wednesday. However, that was changed due to the weather. 

Rehearsals after school lasted from 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., which meant long hours for everyone who participated in “Night of Scenes.”

“Because we had to move just rehearsals to Wednesday and Thursday night, we had to lose our Thursday performance, but in the long run that was the best option because we had become more prepared,” Porres said. “Despite being more prepared, we sadly had to lose a few people because of scheduling or just upcoming events that we weren’t planning for. With that being said we were still able to bounce back and make the best of everything.”

The two snow days affected the casting of some of the acts. Savage was initially casted in her own act, ‘Tech Trouble?’, but then offered to help if needed. She ended up directing one act and performed in three acts.

“The majority of issues stemmed from casting,” Savage said. “At first we were worried we wouldn’t have enough actors for all the roles. Then more actors — and even directors — couldn’t continue due to COVID-19, stress or unavailability. Originally, I was only casted in my own scene. As more actors dropped, roles were reshuffled and I offered to help where I could, filling in new roles and training new techies.

Along with that, Wednesday’s dress rehearsal didn’t go so well. 

“Our first dress rehearsal was an utter disaster,” Savage said. “Mic chords on the fritz, crazy long transitions, forgotten lines and more. It seemed as though anything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”

Porres, along with some of the other theatre kids were glad to even have “Night of Scenes” as an option for theater this year. Considering that all of the major stage performances have been cancelled this year, they were glad to have participated in “Night of Scenes.” 

“I’m really glad that I did because it allowed me to meet so many cool people and really introduce me to something that is fun and enjoyable,” Porres said. “Despite the long nights and stressful deadlines, looking back at the past few weeks I could really tell I was happy just because I was surrounded by people who were fun and just wanted to laugh and goof off.”

The show wouldn’t have been made possible if the sound and lights crew weren’t present. The lights crew consisted of seniors Zach Paquette, Chloe Carson and Elleri Nichols. Junior Chase Glasscock was in charge of the sound.

“I’d love to thank everyone who helped with the performance,” Savage said. “I’d especially like to thank our lights crew. They had very limited time — just two days — to queue up an entire show’s worth of cues and practice spotlights. Our sound crew head did an amazing job. You’d never know that it was his first time running sound. Every techie did wonderful and their — often unsung — work is greatly appreciated.”