Occasionally, Jill Rizzuto sleeps. Jill, 16, plays Margo Channing in W. T. Woodson's production of "Applause," but when she's not rehearsing, she's building sets for the show. "It's really worth all the work you put in," she said.
Jill began in theater as an actor, but then got involved with the Providence Players, a local theater group. She began working behind the scenes there and was the assistant stage manager in their production of "George Washington Slept Here."
In her first exposure to the backstage, or tech, side of putting on a show, she sat backstage and helped with cueing curtains and effects such as making it rain onstage. The experience showed her that there is more to plays than performing in them. "I realized it's a different feeling of completion," she said. She took a class at school about the technical side of theater, but still wanted to have a role onstage.
SEVERAL STUDENTS each year work both as actors and help with backstage work, said Terri Hobson, theater arts director at Woodson. "There's kids who, when they're on the cast, they also want to help on tech," Hobson said.
Woodson's theater tech class is hands-on. "She's building the sets during class," said Ari Post, 17. Ari is acting opposite Jill in the production.
"What I've been working on is building a staircase," Jill said.
She has also been helping with the lighting design, crawling up onto the catwalk above the school's auditorium and focusing the lights on various points of the stage. The lighting cues are then controlled from a booth in the back of the auditorium.
While Jill enjoys the set-building and tech aspects of putting on a show, she greatly prefers acting. "There's just a big rush from being onstage," she said.
She often uses her downtime during the school day to run lines from her role. Other students have commented on how she often sits and appears to be talking to herself. "Every chance I get free, I'm practicing," she said.
AND SHE'S NOT talking in her own voice. She tries to maintain the mindset of her character all day, and has developed a world-weary voice for Margo, who is supposed to be a middle-aged actress. "The truth is, my voice just sounds too young," Jill said.
She then goes to rehearsals after school, where her part makes her spend a lot of time on stage. Even after the acting is over, Jill stays to keep working on set building. "If they're staying late to work on tech, I'll stay and help with that," she said.
After all of this, she goes home, and tries to find some time to eat and do homework. And, of course, practice her lines. "I write them all out," she said. "I learn by writing."
Students like Jill, who devote an extraordinary amount of time to the show, are fairly common in Woodson's drama program, Hobson said. "They're going to devote as much time as they have," she said. "With her, you know she loves it."