Chicago the Musical  at Greeley West was a huge hit last weekend. With just six weeks of rehearsals, Greeley West theater put together an incredible show and overcame all challenges along the way. 

Thespian co-vice president, Fatima Lone is an IB Diploma student who mastered the role of Matron ‘Mama” Morton while balancing heavy coursework. “I really just try to get work done whenever I can, so if I’m not needed in a specific scene or dance, I’ll use that time to sit down and get some work done,” Lone stated.

Senior IB Diploma student Efrat Semere also worked extremely hard to balance his commitments to the musical, his coursework, and his jobs. “It’s a lot of time management, so I have to set goals for myself,” said Semere. 

While also having to maintain quality work in all aspects of his life, senior IB Diploma student, Jeremy Piacenza looked to the theater community for motivation throughout the tedious rehearsal process. “Being a leader for the underclassmen keeps my spirits up and pushes me to be a better person,” Piacenza said. 

The process itself was an intense puzzle, carefully crafted day by day, piece by piece from everyone involved: cast, crew, choreographers and directors. Semere stated, “It’s very difficult for the directors and the choreographers because they have to work around many schedule conflicts.”

“Just because we had such a short amount of time, we really had to hammer through rehearsals, learn things quickly, and make sure we weren’t back tracking so we could meet that performance deadline,” said Lone.

Although the process is rigorous and takes a great amount of patience, the result makes it all worthwhile. By the end of tech week, everyone involved in the production can finally see their hard work paying off. “Tech week brings out the best performer in me,” Piacenza stated.

Semere mentioned, “ Everything comes together in tech week. It’s just beautiful.”