On Aug. 15 at 6 p.m., more than 40 students walked through the streamer-decorated door of the Thermond Drama Center (TDC). Once inside, they were greeted by drama board officers who gave them name tags and directed them to the food table for pizza.

For the next four hours, students participated in the drama program’s welcome night — a dinner party and workshop event inviting both new and experienced students alike to another year in drama. At the event, drama leadership also revealed that this year’s fall play will be “The Crucible” and the spring musical will be “Mamma Mia.” 

Hosted by drama director Ben Brotzman and the eight member student drama board, welcome night planning began in late June. The board consists of seniors Ananya Gupta (vice president), Dragon Neal (treasurer), Anastasia Ramirez (outreach), Olivia Smith (communications) and Amrita Gopal (STA); and juniors Arushi Maheshwar (president), Ashley Henry (secretary) and Ariana Tootoonchi (historian).

Maheshwar said the process included inviting interested students via email, reaching out to captains of ComedySportz — the school’s improvised humor program — to teach an improv workshop, filming an introduction video, ordering food, organizing decoration and cleanup crews for TDC and setting up tables a few hours before welcome night. While Brotzman oversaw the process, students ultimately had the agency to plan the welcome night’s events, she said.

“The final thing we did before the event was gathering together and getting on the same page to figure out how everyone was feeling, because it can be a lot of pressure to plan an event,” Maheshwar said. “Just taking a moment to breathe and understand that we’ve worked hard really helps — that’s something we’re trying to incorporate this year.”

At the event, drama leadership introduced themselves to the group, ran workshops, arranged dinner with socializing time and announced season reveals. While students ate their pizza, Brotzman also hosted a small parent informational session.

Maheshwar said the “biggest hits” during the event were the three workshops designed to give newcomers a taste of theater activities: stage combat, improvisation and scenic design. Attendees were split into three groups, each led by a drama officer, and rotated between the 20-minute lessons in a fun and interactive way.

For stage combat, Brotzman taught students about fighting safely on stage, such as how to throw a convincing punch without making physical contact. ComedySportz captains taught newcomers the basics of improvisation. In the scene design activity, students built the tea party set from “Alice in Wonderland” using blocks for the scene’s table and chairs.

Though Maheshwar and other officers found it difficult to plan around unexpected issues like people showing up without signing up ahead of time, she said that student interest and high turnout made the night a success.

“I’m really proud of everyone for putting their effort into planning this event, because it truly would not have come together as it did if it was just one person planning it,” she said. “At the end of the day, what really made it special was that our drama board in general is close with each other. And we all support each other so much that we’re always pitching in to help.”

Following the play’s announcement, students have since auditioned for the “The Crucible,” which will be performed Nov. 12, 17, 18 and 19 in the McAfee Center. A 1953 classic written by Arthur Miller, the play is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch Trials during 1692.

Although Brotzman made the final decision behind choosing “The Crucible” and “Mamma Mia!” for this year’s major productions, he initially presented a variety of options to drama students and asked for their opinions, Maheshwar said. 

Junior and drama board historian Ariana Tootoonchi said that students have been requesting “Mamma Mia!” for years — as for the “The Crucible,” they were drawn to its difficulty and darker tone. 

“We’ve been doing a lot of Shakespearean, old-timey or comedic plays,” Tootoonchi said. “We wanted to do a tragedy, and we wanted to challenge the actors and the technicians in the emotional side of the performance.”

For regular auditions running from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the TDC on Aug. 29 and 30, students were asked to act out lines or perform cold reads. For larger roles, auditioners also came prepared with monologues. Callbacks were hosted on Aug. 31 and the cast list was posted the following day. The four key roles of Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Reverend Parris and Elizabeth Proctor have been assigned to senior Olivia Smith, senior Eli Tsives, junior Ryan Cagliostro and senior Anastasia Ramirez respectively.

Tootoonchi, who will play John Proctor’s maid Mary Warren — an accuser involved in the Salem witch hunt — feels excited and optimistic to be involved with the play this year.

“I haven’t done the play since ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and I’ve just been having so many conflicts,” she said. “And this year, I’m finally conflict free, so I’m excited to be committed to it. I’ve been looking forward to this day for so long.”

In addition to the play and musical, the program is looking forward to running around seven student productions, which have not yet been announced. Maheshwar said that other goals for this year include youth outreach to elementary and middle schoolers interested in drama.

She also emphasizes that the program is accepting all levels of time commitment from students — regardless of whether they play a major or minor role in the introductory or advanced drama classes, the drama club, the productions or stage tech, all people are welcome.

“I think the main thing that we’re trying to convey this year is that whether you have five hours to spend or whether you can spend one hour a month, there’s so many opportunities for you to be in the drama community,” Maheshwar said. “We would love to have people in the production, but if you don’t have the time to, don’t feel discouraged because there’s a spot for everyone.”