Kohanek rehearses her lines as Hamlet to prepare herself for the upcoming performance. Photo by Elise Tran.by Elise Tran, Staff Writer
Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) theatre presents ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare.
They hope to connect the struggles that Hamlet goes through to what high school students may go through. The performance also focuses less on the props and more on the actors and their acting. The set consists of three, movable circles for the actors to step on and off of.
The show is double casted, so there are two sets of the main characters in Hamlet to create more opportunities for everyone to perform. For example, Cathy Bui (’17) and Mackenzie Kohanek (’17) both star as Hamlet, they just perform on different times. There are about 50 to 60 students working on the play, including the cast, crew, and students who help but aren’t enrolled in theatre class.
The students put a lot of their time and effort into this play. In the course of a week, they rehearse about six to 10 hours and the crew works at a minimum of five hours per week. Everything is done by the students from the sounds, lights, and set to all of the costumes and makeup. Students in Advanced Theatre were even required to read ‘Hamlet’ to grasp the overall mood and better understand the story.
“It’s really special to see how hard [the students] do work, how much they care for these roles and telling the story and want their desire to share it with the school, the school students, the teachers, the parents,” said theatre teacher and Hamlet director, Robert Zick.
Zick is hoping to be able to take the show to some of the local schools. However, this is still being planned and has yet to be set up.
FVHS theatre is ecstatic to share the story of ‘Hamlet’ to all students, faculty, and parents.
“Come see it! Support your local theatre and your peers. It’s cool to see people on stage and all the work that they’ve put in and appreciate it,” said stage manager Zoe Rios (‘17)
The showings are on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 7 p.m., Dec. 2 at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Student tickets are $7, adult tickets are $10, and the matinee performances are $5 for students. All performances will be held in room 309. For more information, visit fvhstheatre.com.
