Curtain rises again for Falcon Playhouse
By Ashley Shah
Patrick Garcia, the technical theatre teacher for the Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) Falcon Playhouse of eight years, has been planning the comeback of the Falcon Playhouse.
“The curtain has risen. I want to relaunch the passion for live theatre. The students need it,” Garcia said.
The theatre program was not able to hold performances in-person throughout most of last year due to the COVID-19 school shutdown.
“We held performances over Zoom throughout the year. We did ‘Almost Maine’ in the fall, which involved mostly two people per scene. So, it was easier to pull off something like that on Zoom. We also did ‘Ten Two,’ which follows the same format as ‘Almost Maine,’” Garcia said. “We had to work through many challenges with the Zoom format. For the backgrounds, we used the same virtual backgrounds, so it looked like they were in the same place. We had to work through sound difficulties and things of that nature as well.”
At the very end of year, the Playhouse was able to do one performance that was in-person.
“When we were able to return back at the very end of the year, we performed outside, and then broadcasted
the live outdoor performance,” Garcia said.
During September, Falcon Playhouse held its first show of the season with Marshall Middle School.
“The performance was done outside, similar to our play in the spring of this year,”
Garcia said.
The next performance, the “Good Doctor,” will be performed outdoors in the amphitheater outside the engineering building from Dec. 2 to 4.
“Everyone has been casted, and we have already started rehearsals,” Garcia said. “Doing everything outdoors has posed a lot of challenges, such as making everything secure, the lighting and constructing things outside in an uncontrolled environment. ”
Garcia explained the challenges they have had to face due to the restrictions from the pandemic.
“In class, we have been distancing ourselves when we rehearse. We always wear masks. We discussed using clear masks to see their facial expressions, but decided against it. After each set changes, we wipe everything down. We can no longer share costumes,” Garcia said.
The performance of “Good Doctor” will be available for anyone to watch live.
“This will be the first time in over a year where the audience will be able to enjoy a performance in its entirety, and the students will finally have a live audience that they can see,” Garcia said.
The Playhouse’s third performance, the musical “Beauty and the Beast,” will be in March 2022. The final performance of the season, “Radium Girls,” will be in June 2022.
“We are going to test out how this show goes, and how the policies regarding COVID go to decide whether the performances will be able to be viewed live like this one, or whether they will be streamed,” Garcia said.
In addition to their performances, in January and April of 2022, the Playhouse will hold improv shows.
“One of my goals is to do an improv show with all of SDUSD,” Garcia said.
Currently, the program has a stable group of members.
“The pool has gone down, just a bit, but I have a really strong core group. We will have just over 40 students for the ‘Good Doctor,’ which is really great,” Garcia said.
The Falcon Playhouse relies on ticket sales and fundraising to keep the program afloat.
“We are currently running a SnapRaise fundraiser. The fundraiser helps pay for the materials we use to build. I am also trying to replace our sound system because it is really old,” Garcia said.
For more information, visit falconplayhouse.com.