By Maddox Smith

The 350-seat Lipkin Theater on campus in Bethlehem bustles with life as the members of the Northampton Community College theater department conduct rehearsals on their latest project, Mean Girls: The Musical.

An empty gray prop house sits vacant on the back of the stage, looming high above the Mean Girls cast members. Throughout rehearsals a neon green prop bed is moved up into the center room of the prop house and eventually moved back down again. A prop keg stands alone, two empty trash bags that had once held it strewn to the side. It is joked that the keg had once belonged to the play’s director, Jessica Lopez-Barkl, and that its contents had been lemon- scented. According to the theatre department’s official Instagram page, director

Lopez-Barkl has previously directed The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Carrie, both of which starred several of the actors that will be featured in Mean Girls.

Members of the play’s cast meander about near the front of the stage, feeding each other their cues. The fifteen-person stage crew, along with the director, assistant directors and stage manager are spread about throughout the theatre seats, some up high, away from the actors, some down low, right at the front of the stage.

It’s the second night of rehearsals, and the members of the stage crew seem bored. Some absent-mindedly chow down on sandwiches they’d brought for dinner or bags of chips. Some stare off into space, some stare directly at their phones. They have yet to actually participate in any of the rehearsals; their parts won’t start until the third night. Instead, they’ve been regulated to watch the cast members rehearse, as it’s required for them to know the play inside and out, too. In watching these rehearsals, the stage crew have seen the actors pause due to their spacing in the dance scenes being messed up, or due to fellow actors flubbing their lines. This is what the rehearsals are all about. They provide the cast and crew with their only opportunities to make mistakes.

Some of the play’s cast members dream of Broadway. Some dream of writing; some are simply here because they felt it would be more fun than taking another math course. Not everyone involved wants to be a professional; some are simply just looking for fun.

“It’s a requirement for the stage production class I’m currently taking,” stage crew member Saorla Smith said. “I’ve wanted to be a part of the stage crew for other plays that I’ve worked on, plays back in high school. Stage crew is still something I’m interested in, even though I did not get the part I auditioned for.”

Despite most members of the crew’s enthusiasm, most of the production members can’t help but feel bored as the actors run through their lines for what feels like the hundredth time of the night. “I would be willing to audition for other plays here at NCC in the future,” another member of the stage crew remarks. “But I’m not 100% sure that I’d be willing to work as a part of the stage crew again.”

Even once the members of the stage crew begin their work on the third night, their overall attitude towards the job doesn’t seem to waver. Most believe that it would be more fulfilling to be a performer rather than a stagehand. Despite the stage crew’s discontent, the show must go on.