Every year at Chandler High, the theater department has a fall play and a spring musical. This year the fall play is called Bethel Park Falls and Ms. Likes, the director for the theater department, is very excited for all students and families to come and experience the show. The opening dates for Bethel Park Falls are September 14th, 15th, and 16th. The show on September 16th starts at 2 p.m., but the other two shows start at 7 p.m.
Ms. Likes is very hopeful for the students she has chosen for this show because they are already working hard. The actors have been practicing for this fall play since August 9th and 10th. On the audition days, there were a total of about 45 people who wanted to audition for about 20 characters. The actors have been rehearsing and memorizing lines from 2:30 p.m. after school to 5:00 p.m. In the last week of rehearsals, the actors and crew members will stay at the school practicing from 2:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Riely Foerst, a junior, plays the character named Lily. Each character who is played is very unique and each has a different experience in the park that is closing down. Riely also mentions that she practices her lines for 1-2 hours to memorize lines. She is very hopeful for this play because of how intricate this play is. For example, Riely’s character Lily has a unique experience because she is a single mother and her husband is deployed, so she often finds herself at the park talking to other parents about raising their children. Lily finds herself waiting for her husband for 11 months and often doubts if they can still be connected as they were before her husband was deployed.
Ms. Likes thought of choosing this play because of how connected each character is to each other. For instance, Lily and her husband Reed don’t meet face to face but still, they both have a strong connection to one another throughout the play. One of the reasons Ms. Likes chose this play is because the Chandler Center of the Arts dressing rooms and restrooms are being remodeled throughout rehearsals and shows. The play costumes and scene props are minimalistic because the setting of the play is taking place in a park. Ms. Likes chose this play because when she was deciding which show to do for the annual fall play, she had always had the story in the back of her mind. She thought the characters and story could be easily displayed by the students here at CHS. Ms. Likes encourages any students to experience “Bethel Park Falls” at Chandler Center for Arts at a price for $10 at the door, You can find a QR code on the posters around school, or you can buy tickets at the bookstore on CHS Campus.
