Last week, auditions were held for Waynesburg University’s spring musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. With the cast list released Jan. 22 and the musical scheduled to open March 21, the cast and directors will have their hands full preparing for their theatric performance.

First showing in 2005, the Drowsy Chaperone is a comedic musical that has been on Broadway and won five Tony Awards. The story is about an enthusiastic theatre fan who places the original cast recording of his favorite musical, the 1928 The Drowsy Chaperone, on his record player. As soon as the needle hits the record, the musical comes alive in his living room and the theatre fan is able to interact with the musical itself. Edward L. Powers, professor of Theatre and director of The Drowsy Chaperone, says that if anybody is looking to laugh their heart out, this is the show for them.

“It is a pretty light-hearted show primarily meant to give us some laughs and a catchy toon or two,” said Powers.

With the progression of the musical rehearsals, the development of the singing, dancing and acting all into one requires a lot of time. When deciding the cast, skills, experience and availability all have to be taken into account when sifting through dozens of notes on potential candidates. There are certain aspects, however, that Powers said are considered above others in this process.

“One major factor is the talent, when it comes to acting, when it comes to singing, when it comes to dancing,” said Powers. “And then I have to look at students’ schedules; if they can meet the majority of our rehearsals.”

With little more than two months to master their roles, the actors will be pushed to memorize their lines and coordinate their dance steps. On a typical day, Powers will show his actors how he wants a particular scene blocked a term to the positioning of actors throughout a scene. The actors then act out the scene, make note of mistakes, listen to corrections and repeat this process several times throughout the night.

Senior computer science major Ronnie Loebker, performing the character of the theatre fanatic, says the amount of repetition he and his fellow actors do drives home the perfection they need to perform.

“We rehearse so much that a lot of the time you will know most of your lines by rehearsing them because we have done them so many times,” said Loebker. “Most of the time, everyone knows everyone’s lines because we have rehearsed them so much.”

The Drowsy Chaperone will be performed in the Goodwin Performing Arts Center on March 21-24. If anybody would still like to be a part of the production spots are open for the chorus section of the musical. Powers is eager to welcome anyone who enjoys the theatre.

“If there are any of our students that did not audition that would still like to be a part of our ensemble, talk to me” said Powers.