Spring Play

 The cast of “Hotel Pickle,” the spring play at MHS, includes (front row, from left) Eliza Papreck, Delaney Snyder, (second row) Kollin Huse, Connor Slusher, Kaliyah Maupin, Faith Sappington, (back row) Chase Laxson, Lily Wade, Andy Gooden and Andrew Ybarra.

The Marsaline

 Even though the majority of the student body was taken out of Marshall High School for the end of first semester and third quarter, the theater department continued with its plans for the spring semester, a production of “Hotel Pickle,” a fun play surrounding the chaotic happenings and miscommunications in the titular Hotel Pickle. The roles include the owner of the hotel; a patron, a criminal, and a prospective actor; a surveyor for historic buildings; a Hollywood director, her bodyguard, and her assistant; and the staff of the hotel, all of whom attempt to reach their respective goals without losing their jobs, their money or their lives. 

This year presented unique challenges to the cast and crew of the play, according to Amber Tottingham, head of the theater department and director of “Hotel Pickle.” The fire that occurred in November 2021 sent sophomores, juniors and seniors out of the building for the remainder of second quarter and all of third quarter, which resulted in the theater department losing Stagecraft and Lighting, the class where students build the stages for each production the department puts on. For Tottingham, the most difficult part of production was losing the stagecraft class. 

“(The fire) influenced how we put the play together, mostly because of stagecraft, or the lack of,” said Tottingham. 

Because the upperclassmen were located at Martin Center, the work of building the stage during school hours fell to members of the freshman drama class, who had to be taught to use the tools necessary and the basics of stage construction that the stagecraft students already knew.

The cast and crew lost many days of rehearsal due to snow days as well, taking the normal five weeks to prepare down to three and a half weeks. Senior Chase Laxson, who played Cookie, noted that these missed days were the worst of the issues. 

“I think a large part of what made ‘Hotel Pickle’ such a production mess is that we missed nine to 11 practices due to instances out of our control... The cast took it pretty difficult; we were only able to have one practice over one the snow days,” said Laxson. 

Senior Lillian Wade, who played Lucinda Pickle, said that the 2022 spring play had more obstacles than most years. 

“The snow cost us rehearsals, but everyone worked hard to pull their own weight, and we made it through,” said Wade. “The spring show is always harder to prepare for because we are juggling spring sport practices, winter colds and the infamous issue of miscommunication,” 

Alongside the cast, the crew also had issues because of the snow days. Because of the missed rehearsals, the crew had much less time to implement their ideas. 

“We were more stressed out because of how many days we’ve missed because the deadline was sooner… (the biggest challenge was) the deadline,” Senior Courtney Holland, stage manager, said.

However, the production wasn’t all stress and worry. For Wade, the most fun she had was the time she spent with her fellow actors backstage. For Holland, it was building one particular window. For Laxson, it was the shenanigans the cast inspired and their ability to improv. 

“We weren't always the best at timing our comedy, but they were very skilled at taking those mistakes and making it natural,” Laxson said. “It was a lot of fun seeing the antics they came up with to cover their mistakes…”

Despite the struggles behind the scenes, the cast and crew of “Hotel Pickle” overcame together. Tottingham said people came in early to work, the students in stagecraft volunteered to come in after school, and cast and crew stayed late to practice. The students themselves were also proud of each other and the play they managed to put on. 

“’Hotel Pickle’ was definitely one for the books,” said Wade.