Look up to the dressing room mirror for one last glance to convince  yourself that you can do this. This is why you rehearsed almost every day for the previous two months. It all comes down to this. Walking past technicians telling you to break a leg, arriving at your entrance, the bright stage lights hit the makeup on your face. You’re ready.

In Trinity’s Department of Theatre Arts there are variables behind the scenes that many people don’t get to see. What the audience sees is a play that starts at seven, lasts around two hours and then they get to leave.

The actors are in the theatre about four days a week leading up to the month of the show. That changes to six days a week for the last two weeks before the show.

Of the commitment to performing, actor and senior Jack Wolfram, who has been doing theatre since he was a freshman at Trinity, said, “You can say goodbye to your life.”

Despite the time demands, the actors love being in the theatre, and it makes them happy to do what they do every day.

Wolfram said, “My biggest interest in the theatre is that it allows you to portray other people through yourself.”

Junior Chris Monell said, “I like to sing. I have a talent and I like to express that, and it’s really just helped me become a better person.”

Newcomers also expressed a passion for acting.

Junior Jonathan Stuecker said, “I’ve always been interested in theatre. This fall was the first time I ever acted, and I immediately fell in love with it.”

Trinity theatre producer/artistic director Ms. Kate Reedy said she learned a great deal from recently retired Trinity artistic director Mr. William P. Bradford II, working with him as a student and a choreographer.

Reedy said she also grew to love theatre due to the influence of her parents.

“Mr. Bradford was a huge mentor,” she said. “I’ve grown up around him. My parents have always enjoyed theatre, so I grew up around that, and in college I got a lot of great opportunites.”

The Rocks’ fall production, “The Complete Works of Shakespeare — Abridged,” will be followed this spring with “Rock of Ages,” opening Mar. 14.

Trinity theatre producer/artistic director Ms. Kate Reedy talks about her work……………..video by Max Urton