During Halloween weekend, Haverford High School’s Drama Club presented Honk! The Musical was performed on October 27th, 28th, and 29th. Honk! is an award-winning musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story, The Ugly Duckling, and Haverford Drama Club chose to take on the challenge of telling this wonderful story for this year’s fall show. The cast and crew were ecstatic to be back performing this fall, and The Fordian sat down with a few of those participating to get the inside scoop before watching the performance.
Senior Sophia Politano, a dedicated member of Haverford’s Drama Club, played the role of The Cat, the sly, cunning villain of Honk!. Describing the process of preparing for the big day, she said, “It can be stressful at times, especially for this show because we had less time than usual, but I always have a lot of fun! It takes up more of our time as we get closer to show week.”
Even students behind the scenes were scrambling to get everything ready for the big day, whether it was set design, stage crew, or the costumes department. Senior Alice Quinn is the costumes liaison of Haverford’s Drama club.
“We start cast fittings, which is the most hectic step because often people don’t know what they need or how to articulate their character, so it’s a lot of guesswork,” said Quinn. “We go through the score and figure out the quick changes, and put together our run crew during tech week. It’s basically just troubleshooting as problems arise and making any adjustments our director thinks are necessary.”
While you may not see them, the costumes department is doing a lot of the heavy lifting backstage, similar to the stage crew’s work. Quinn said, “Stage crew starts prop lists and painting/building the sets pretty early, but during tech week is when everything really comes together. Scene changes and lighting cues are worked out all during tech week.”
Running a little over two hours, Honk! was filled with stunning sets and dynamic characters, following main character Ugly as he navigated his world as someone who looked different from those around him. The children enjoyed the musical at face value, while teens and adults appreciated the musical’s more subtle adult jokes.
“Drama Club is for anyone with an interest in the arts— and you don’t even have to perform to be involved!” said Sophia Politano, who has been a part of Drama Club since her freshman year. “You can do costumes or tech, and we have a ton of fun events and fundraisers throughout the school year that [anyone] can participate in. Plus, there are so many kind and welcoming people here! I’ve met so many of my good friends through drama club and it feels like a second home.”
You heard it here, folks; drama club is the place to be. Auditions for the spring musical Into the Woods will take place in early December – all are welcome to join!