Tensions are high as Theater 2 and 3 prepare for the Hart District Theater Festival held at Hart Auditorium February 13. There will also be a similar festival held at Saugus High School February 23. 

Actors are currently going over their lines and dances to make sure everything is perfect. Charlie Molerio, a sophomore actor in Theater 3, is in almost every act the program is doing for the Festival—a lot to memorize in such a short amount of time. 

“To get ready for roles, I kind of just be myself. If I am doing something like a monologue, which is a little more serious, I just think about the bad things that have happened to me that were mildly traumatic. I use that to put myself into the shoes of the character,” Molerio said.

Besides [whatever act you were trying to mention here], he is also doing a group act called Stage Kiss and another pair act from McBeth.

“We can usually pick who we act with for competitions, so I try to work with people that I like,” Molerio said.

Theater tech is also working hard, finding new ways to light up the stage and make the actors and actresses look good doing their thing. Elliot Ward is the lighting designer for the five of the acts. Lighting design is a very impressive and important thing to do for the Festival because of how difficult it is to light certain moods and shift between moods during acts.

“I take on a lot of roles, but my favorite is lighting design. To prepare for lighting, I usually try to sit through a decent number of the rehearsals and take notes. I just take notes on what is happening and how people are moving. I can do lighting that is like really moody and spooky for things like McBeth,” Ward said.