With the set from “The Clumsy Custard Horror Show” still in the process of being taken down, theater director Ms. K.T. Peterson now shifts her focus to the upcoming Rookie Show. 

Peterson said the show will be composed of short skits and possibly Spinprov’s first performance. Lead organizer and student director for one of the individual skits, junior Ally Pea, said, “They are all generally around the 10-minute mark. I’m hoping that we might get some that are a little longer.” 

Peterson said there were originally four skits, but Pea said, “We had a director that did cancel (at the) last second.” Along with a possible Spinprov performance, three skits are currently planned. However, Pea said, “I’m trying to work some stuff out there and maybe get some people who like to sing.” 

The student directors for individual skits did a bit more recruiting after the audition, so Pea said, “I’m hopeful that we’ll end up with maybe about eight, but if I had to pick a number that I would really want, it would be at least 10.” 

Pea said, “When I first said that I was going to organize Rookie Showcase, I was thinking we were going to get somewhere in the ballpark of about five because of what (I) had freshman year, but I guess I didn’t realize how much the interest in theater has changed. There just aren’t as many people doing it.” 

She did say, though, “We don’t have as many people signing up because a lot of people are still worried about Covid. I think that’s really impacted theater in ways we couldn’t have imagined.” The inability of student actors last year to appear on stage also may have affected the number of individuals involved this year. 

Pea said she had tried to get the word out about the rookie show, but wanted to send out an all-school email to see if she could reach anyone else. Some people, she said, told her that they didn’t know about the Rookie Showcase and what it involves. 

Pea said the show is for “people who have never really done Cathedral theater or have only ever done anything one other time.” Auditions were Dec. 1. Pea said, “Only three people showed up and (we got) two other people to come in.” Despite the low turnout, Pea said, “I thought they did pretty well especially since a lot of them didn’t prepare monologues, so I thought they did pretty well for a dry read through.” 

The student directors are split into three groups for the three skits. Pea said the student director groups are her and junior Joseph Mariani; junior Colin Chandler and junior Olivia Griffith; and junior Karsyn Kramer and junior Scout Andersen. 

All student directors but Pea acted in the previous theater production, “The Clumsy Custard Horror Show.” Pea was part of the lights crew. Pea said, in contrast to other theater productions, “We don’t really have a construction crew or set crew and we don’t really need a deck manager. We’ll probably have lights crew that just has to press a button every so often, and we’ll definitely have sound crew and prop crew.” 

The rookie show will take place Jan. 21. Peterson said to anyone interested in the rookie show, “We’ll find a place for you, and it’s such a good chance and it’s such a good group of students to get to know.”