Scarlet Hanna
Staff Writer
The Mira Costa Drama/Tech Department held auditions for this year’s spring musical, Mean Girls, during the week of Jan. 5th, drawing in a large group of students eager to earn a spot in this year’s production. Throughout the week, performers rotated through vocal and dance auditions, showcasing their skills.
“Auditions were definitely stressful, but also really fun,” said senior Stella Sepaniak. “The musical this year was super high energy and everyone really wanted to give a good performance.”
Vocal auditions were led by musical director Megan Cornelius, who evaluated students on pitch, tone, and character interpretation. Students were told to prepare short cuts of songs from the musical that highlighted their vocal ability and the part they hoped to play.
“Some songs were hard to sing, but I picked songs within the character I wanted to get casted as to show my ability to play that part,” said Sepaniak.
Dance auditions were led by choreographer Christopher Mario, and they focused on rhythm, coordination, and performance ability. Groups learned a short dance on the spot, and they had to perform it after just a few run throughs. For many students, like Sepaniak, the dance round was one of the most challenging parts of the auditions process due to the learning pace.
“The dance audition was one of the hardest parts for me,” said Sepaniak. “Learning the choreography that fast and performing it right away was tough.”
Callbacks were held on Jan. 7, narrowing the pool of performers and allowing Drama teacher and director, Jonathan Westerberg, to see specific students read, sing, and dance for particular roles. Final casting decisions were announced late night on Jan. 10, ending an intense week filled with anticipation and excitement.
“This year’s musical is going to be a lot of hard work,” said Sepaniak. “But I think it could be one of our best performances yet.”
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