The room is silent. Empty chairs line the walls of the black box, waiting to be occupied. In the middle are actors, each with their own pink copy of “15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play.” Mrs. Roberts, the director, is sitting in a chair off to the side closely watching the actors’ performance and occasionally glancing at her copy of the script. The actors are standing in a circle firing out their lines in rapid succession like a rifle. Their movements complement each other’s strengths and diminish their weaknesses installing a sense of family to the viewer.

Four days later, in the same space a different cast rehearsed a different play.

“The spring play this year is actually two short plays,” Roberts said. One is called “Final Dress Rehearsal” and the other is “15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play.” They’re both theater themed so we thought they could go together.”

“Final Dress Rehearsal” is about an amatuer theater group’s performance of Cinderella and how everything is going wrong at their final rehearsal. The other, “15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play” is pretty self explanatory. It’s 15 reasons to not be in a play.

According to Roberts, the reason that they’re doing two plays this year instead of one is so that one group can rehearse one day and the other is free for other after school activities and then later in the week they’ll switch.

“Its a change of pace.” junior Sam Hansel said.  “We’re basically splitting the time in half that we spend on rehearsing. For the first half of the week they get to rehearse and then the second half we get to rehearse.”

However, the production of two plays this year instead of one is not the only thing that’s different from spring plays in previous years. Another thing that’s changing is where the performance is going to take place.

“This year’s plays are in the black box,” Roberts said. “Whitlock used to do a full production on the main stage and would build sets and do all the stuff and I have taken it here because we have this amazing space and it should be utilized as a theater. Its my favorite place to work.”

Some of the cast is happy with these changes while others aren’t.

“Doing the plays in the black box is different than the stage but I feel that it gives a more in depth experience for the viewer,” sophomore Jayden Spencer said.

However, junior Jacob Warfel has different thoughts.

“I think I prefer performing in the auditorium. There’s more seats, a bigger stage and it’s definitely a different interaction with the audience than in the black box,” Warfel said. “In the black box, you’re much closer to the audience but in the auditorium there’s a clear separation between stage and audience. There’s also a lot more you can do on stage like the fly system where you can bring stuff down and bring it back up.”

Even though Warfel is a little disappointed about performing in the black box he’s still having a great time practicing and getting ready for the performances.

The dates for the play are Feb. 28 and March 1, 7 and 8.  Each day there are two performances. One at 3 p.m. and one at 7 p.m. However, at each performance, both plays are going to be presented.

Despite mixed feelings from the changes that have been put in place for this year’s spring play, many of the cast members are still having a great time working to put on their production.

“Rehearsal has been going a little bit slow but I get to hang out with some amazing people and work with them to make an amazing production.” Warfel said.