Auditions for Romeo and Juliet Are Coming Up!

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The Pasco Players are holding auditions for their spring play, Romeo, and Juliet, on January 23 & 24 after school. The PHS theater department has been more active with its play productions since October 2021. The theater department is always looking for new students to come around and help with the plays and auditions are a perfect way to start getting involved. If by this point, you’re thinking that acting isn’t for you, then just wait one second. You can get involved with the PHS Drama Club that have a once-a-week meeting after school in room 185A. These meetings discuss things like selling hot cocoa to raise money for the department, which they were currently doing, and a haunted hallway event that takes place during Halloween. The Players also always have spots open in backstage tech for every show. Students that do tech are the hidden hands of the plays. They make sets, find, and make props for actors, come up with ideas for costumes, and many more things. In the words of our director, “the show can’t go on without tech.” If you’re interested in auditioning, but are wondering what you need to bring or prepare for, the answer is nothing. The most the director asks for is to just show up at 3 pm, after school in the school auditorium on January 23rd or 24th, and bring friends that are also interested in Romeo and Juliet. Everyone is welcome. Anything that you may need will be waiting for you in the auditorium like scrips and forms.

I might be biased because I’m in theater tech myself and want more people to join, so I took time to interview the drama teacher and director, Mr. Austin, and the stage manager for the last production “Suspense,” Dalia Madrigal about why you should come to audition for either acting or tech. Mr. Austin said, “Pasco High hasn’t done Shakespeare in 5+ years, and there is no other school in the Tri-Cities is doing Shakespeare right now, so it’s kind of an unprecedented thing that we are doing, so if you want to be involved with something interesting, that’s new, that’s exciting, it’s one of the coolest things that is going to be happening this year in Pasco High.” This is true, the last Shakespeare play that Pasco High put on was probably years ago and Romeo and Juliet is also a classic for high school plays. But should you be scared to join or audition? According to Mr. Austin, “no, I think that I love seeing new people in the theater, and especially with all our drama students now they are all super welcoming and very nice and it does really feel like a family, everyone like to hang out with each other, they talk and they laugh and so I think you will instantly if you come and audition, you will instantly feel a part of something bigger than just yourself. So even if you’re scared, nothing bad is going to happen. What’s the worst that can happen?”

When Dalia was asked if she recommended students join drama, she stated “I think it shows what really goes on for the productions and, it’s really fun to do. You get really involved and the people that are in there are just so motivated to do what they do and enjoying it, having a good time.” She also stated, “I think we all work together with the teachers, the adults, and the students. I think we work together really well to make it an environment where other students would want to join and be a part of it.”

When you join these plays, you don’t just get a role in the Pasco Players, you also get new friends, new connections, and a lot of new positive memories. The last question I asked Mr. Austin was “what was your favorite highlight from any show you’ve done here at PHS?” It took him a while to find his favorite, but he finally said, “I think people not knowing that I know how to bake and cook and so bringing cookies to my cast and them not believing that I made them, that was a pretty good memory.” Now that you’ve heard things from both a teacher and a student, I hope you’ve opened your mind to possibly doing theater for PHS in the future.