On December 5, 6, and 7, Hatboro-Horsham’s Theater Department performed “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.” The story follows Percy Jackson as he learns more about his father, Poseidon, and more about the world of gods and demigods. He is joined by his best friend Grover and his “dream girl” Annabeth. The trio find out that someone stole Zeus’ lightning, and they travel to Los Angeles to stop who they think has stolen the lightning.
I went behind the scenes to talk with some of the cast, crew, and staff of the show to see this story from their perspective. One thing that a lot of people mentioned was the bond between the cast members. Director Lisa Litchko commented that “everyone was great at supporting each other and giving each other feedback and making suggestions.”
The cast was a smaller group, so they got close very quickly. Junior Emily Murray, who played the Oracle, said, “The first time we were all together, just the energy that everyone had automatically at the first rehearsal was crazy.” When watching the show, I could see that the cast’s chemistry was real and wasn’t something they were only acting out.
Sophomore Toby Cuffitelli, who played Grover, expressed his thoughts on the trio consisting of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover: “It’s a really fun trio. It’s really helpful that we were all friends when we started this. These roles have definitely brought our friendship closer, and we all work together so perfectly. Since we have similar personality traits and have this intense love for acting and singing, we fit into these roles of best friends perfectly.”
The crew also had some great connections with each other. They spent many days after school, working on the set and adding details to the show to make it magical and bring the audience into the world of Percy Jackson. Senior Mariana Mollett learned “to not give up. This show was really difficult to get up and running, and I almost gave up, but I didn’t. My run crew really helped me persevere through it.”
The cast and production staff also talked about some things that created the show’s magic. Senior James McLaughlin who played Percy, talked about the blocking, which is where people are positioned during the scene. He said, “One important thing is the blocking of it. It makes sense where we are and what we are doing…. What the stage looks like to the audience matters a lot.”
Another thing the cast mentioned was how they got into character and how they played their roles. “It’s very interesting to see the show from the villain’s perspective and see their thought process and what led them to that decision,” said sophomore Tyler Rosenthal, “You have to think ‘what brought Luke to his decision’ and all of the events that happened in his past to turn against the gods and want to kill them all. You can make some justification for it; it’s interesting to think about some points he makes.”
Miss. Amanda Piergallini, who is the assistant director, spoke about the magic of adding stage crew. She believes, “the tech side of the show is so cool. Between the different lighting techniques used and the different technical aspects like the campfire smoke, fog and projections, which was just a cyclops on the wall, really added to the show’s experience. Many of the tech crew are seniors this year, so being able to showcase their skills from the past 4 years has been a really cool experience.”
The music director, Mr. David Fernandes, spoke about how important the music related to the show, saying, “The great thing about doing rock musicals is digging into the emotion you can have in a rock song while also having that musical theater emotion.” Both he and Nicole, the choreographer, worked with the cast to bring the emotion and magic to the audience with fun songs and dance numbers.
There were a few things I was told to look for when watching the show. Miss. Piergallini said, “I love the aspect of the backpack for Percy. Percy’s backpack gets passed around between a lot of people, which is the intention, because it adds to not knowing who took the lightning bolt and who placed the lightning bolt where.” The backpack was held by many people, including Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Luke, Ares, and some other campers, which really made you think the thief could be anyone.
Senior Ainsley Cheshire, who played Percy’s mother Sally, wanted people to focus on “the trio’s character development throughout the whole show. It’s so awesome to see them start out not knowing anything, and then they become friends. It’s very special.” She also mentioned her dog Scout, who made his debut on Thursday. He was trained and mastered his scene, plus he loved the attention from the cast. Lilith Henley, who played Annabeth, felt that “one thing to look out for is the Lightning Bolt. The first time I saw it, I was like ’What!?’ and my face was in pure shock.”
While the cast and crew were small, they built connections and shared many funny moments with each other. After their final bows on Saturday, many of the cast and crew broke into tears. The friendships, skills, and memories they gained throughout this show will stay with them for a long time.
