The stage lights blare down in the auditorium as freshman Steven Aderton and junior Harris Fitzgerel start to block one of their scenes together for the spring musical, Little Shop of Horrors. Their director, Steven Hirsch, sits perched on the stage with the stage book out in front of him, tapping a pen to the melodious tune that both Fitzgerel and Aderton are singing. As both students reach the middle of the song, however, they stop, for something is missing: a verse held by another student is silent because of their absence.

Absence due to sickness plagues most clubs, sports, and other activities at AHS. When it comes to being absent for a rehearsal for a musical less than five weeks away from show night, absences become even more apparent and put a show in jeopardy of messing up its rehearsal schedule. This is what the thespians in LSOH have come to face due to many absences that have already pushed rehearsal back a week.

AHS alumna and choreographer of the musical, Tori Gowland, is an important member of the show that was forced to miss a few days of scheduled rehearsal due to an illness that caused her to have her tonsils removed. Recovered and back in rehearsal at the beginning of the third week, Gowland is already looking ahead to the show’s progress.

“I think students should be responsible and take the time to be well enough to be there for rehearsals,” junior Andrew Riddle, who plays the voice of the plant (Audrey II) in the show, said. “It is very important that they are there whenever the rehearsal schedule says for them to be, even though I can understand if they absolutely can’t be.”

Theater arts teacher George Bennett, who is a co-director and head of set design for the show, originally had the rehearsal schedule of which students needed to be rehearsing on which days tacked up on a bulletin board outside of the theater room for the first week of the show’s preparation. Since some students do not always pass by the theater room everyday, not every student was informed about when they needed to be rehearsing, which also added to the few absences that occurred during the first week of rehearsal. During the second week, however, all students involved in the show were given a printed schedule.

“Finally having a schedule helped a lot,” Fitzgerel, who is not only a lead role in the show, but also an IB diploma candidate, said. “I needed one to be able to plan rehearsal around other activities that I am involved in after school, such as Theory of Knowledge.”

Bennett says that he looks forward to the show’s success, even with a week of rehearsal altered and its date upcoming in just a matter of a few weeks.

“Spring Break will give us more time for preparation,” Bennett said. “We will continue to work very hard.”