It’s eighth period Thursday, Nov. 14, in AHS’s theatre room. Opening night for “SpongeBob: The Musical” is a week away, and freshman technician Schilke, who prefers using just a last name, has work to do. There are coral mountains to finish, lights to help cue and a million more things to do. Suddenly, they hear…
“Schilke, can I talk to you?” Rebecca Crabtree, theatre teacher and director, said. Crabtree and Schilke stepped into her office, where Crabtree said, “The actor for Mr. Krabs had to drop. Would you mind taking the role?”
Mr. Krabs, one of the roles in the performance, includes around 40 lines to memorize, six songs plus choreography to perform (including a solo and duet), and at least five scenes worth of blocking to learn. Problem is: there is no understudy. So, Crabtree went through a list of the available technicians (also known as “techies”) that she “knew would put in the work and who wouldn’t be afraid to do it.” Crabtree said one student immediately came to mind: Schilke.
“Schilke is a very proactive student and has been very dedicated for these last few months,” Crabtree said. “So, I knew that the work would be put in and Schilke would be proactive in reaching out to the dance captain and the stage manager and scene partners to make sure everyone was on the same page. So it was an easy choice, but it was definitely crazy to—last- minute—throw together a different costume, adapt some props and schedule extra music rehearsals.”
Initially, Crabtree approached Schilke because she knew they had prior acting experience.
“I know at Azle Junior High last year, Schilke was really involved in the theater productions,” Crabtree said. “So I’ve seen those shows, and in our past production this semester, ‘Almost Maine.’ Honestly, I was surprised that Schilke didn’t audition for SpongeBob.”
After taking up the role—which Schilke responded to Crabtree with, ‘‘You know what? Yeah, I could totally do this. I’ve got this, no biggie’”—they spent the entire weekend memorizing the script.
“I went home,” Schilke said. “I studied my lines. I studied my songs. I worked with a couple of people for my songs right away so I could get those out. Mainly, they helped me with song cues and how to memorize my songs and [helped] with tempo a lot. And then I came back, and I focused on blocking. I was under a lot of stress because I had a full list of things to just knock out of the park right away.”
Other actors and tech departments also had to adapt to the role change, including prop head and Schilke´s friend, senior Ace Burks.
“They came to me, they told me that they were stressed,” Ace said. “I was really worried, because it’s a lot of strain on you, and being an underclassman who got thrown into that role a week before opening—that can scare you. Any normal person would be freaked out. I had no doubt in my mind that they could do it, though.”
But Schilke wasn’t tackling the new role alone: they had friends helping them memorize lines and songs, and teachers, like choir director Jefferey Moss, helping with the actual singing.
“If I’m being completely honest [who helped me the most], I would love to say Mr. Moss,” Schilke said. “My director (Crabtree) is being a director: moving me around, blocking, giving me notes, and stuff. It’s really, really helpful. But, Mr. Moss helps me understand the songs more, and he helped me really get into character, be who Krabs is, and that helped me the most.”
Going into the opening show, after five rehearsals and help from Crabtree and Moss, Schilke said they felt a “huge mix of both” excited and nervous.
“I’m mainly nervous because, you know, what if I mess up?” Schilke said. “But at the same time, everyone’s going to mess up on stage. I know that for a fact, and it’s not really a big deal, and I feel really honored that as a freshman, they picked me to do this.”
