The adage, “The show must go on,” proved to be true in Columbus Middle School’s spring production of “The Lion King Jr.”
It had been just a few days before opening night on March 31 when Set Director Lindsey Rosno received an injury during rehearsal serious enough for her to be unable to continue her duties.
“With my injury, I remember all of the students just looking at me, not knowing what to do and just being worried about what was going to happen and whether we continue the show,” Rosno said. “At that point, I had to step out, and I had to trust them to be able to do their very best.”
That turned out to be the right call as Columbus Middle School (CMS) won the Outstanding Musical Theater Production, Outstanding Ensemble and Backstage Excellence awards from the Omaha Performing Arts’ Nebraska High School Theater Academy (NHSTA) this year.
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The Backstage Excellence Award required an application process in which Rosno shared her injury and how the students overcame this obstacle to make “The Lion King Jr.” a success.
Rosno had 10 students serving in the backstage group this year, with only two having had previous experience in the work. The new crew members, Rosno noted, had to deal with a steep learning curve in addition to not having the set director guiding them.
The two kids who had returned from last year stepped up to the plate, Rosno said.
“Those two girls did it all: they called the cues, they made sure all of the students knew what they were supposed to do, when they needed to move things onstage and offstage,” Rosno said. “I could not be more proud of them for leading everyone and all of our new students for just taking the responsibility seriously.”
Director Celeste Ditter said this was especially noteworthy as, without Rosno, there was no director backstage. Although parents and others stepped up during this time, and there was adult supervision, the kids essentially did everything on their own.
“Instead of that making our show worse, the kids used that and strengthened their abilities. …Their motivation, their passion, their focus, their go-get 'em attitude, their excellence; everything skyrocketed,” Ditter said.
“It was pretty powerful to see them put on the show without their set director backstage.”
Outstanding Musical Theater Production was based on how every aspect of the show works together, Ditter said, while Outstanding Ensemble is focused on the non-lead characters.
Adjudicators watch all of the productions put on by the high schools and middle schools that are a part of NHSTA. Awards are determined based on their feedback.
CMS received the same three awards for last year’s production of “Moana Jr.”
“We put all this heart and passion into telling the story that can inspire,” Ditter said. “We personally felt inspired and we felt like our community was inspired, but it's very powerful to know that that inspiration traveled to a very knowledgeable set of adjudicators who see all the shows, and could help us understand the intensity of the story that we told.”
It’s a wonderful feeling to know they told a story in that way, she added, and they hadn’t been sure how their production compared to other schools.
“Performing to inspire is the number one goal and always will be but when you get the award … it just says so much to everybody involved in the process that the story was told in the way we intended,” Ditter said.
Rosno noted that the kids “shine on that stage regardless of their age” and encouraged people who haven’t seen a CMS spring musical to consider coming to celebrate the students and their love of performing.
“What really made that show special was the cast and crew and the audience who came,” Ditter added. “The fact that we can do this for our town and together make something incredibly powerful with a bunch of middle schoolers.”
An NHSTA showcase will be held on June 4 at the Orpheum Theater, at which award winners will be recognized.
Usually, Ditter said, the school receives 10 complimentary tickets and a handful of kids come along while others have the option of purchasing their own tickets if they want to come.
The showcase, however, is an incredible experience, she added, and they decided the entire cast and crew needed to be involved.
“For a small cost, we were able to provide a bus and transportation, we're going to take the whole cast and crew,” Ditter said. “There's only a handful of kids who can't make it because of summer conflicts. …I'm so excited for them, it's going to be really special for them to see this.”
The kids will also be able to see the best student performers in the entire state as there will be performances at the event.
“The beauty of public schools is that you get kids from every culture, every socioeconomic background; you teach everybody,” Ditter said. “For them to be able to get this experience when we have such a unique population of kids in our school, a lot of families would never be able to take their kids to this. That's why the bus part was so important because we have to make a way to take them there so they can see. This could unlock a new world for a lot of these kids.”
