Students gather in the lobby of the Patty Baker Theater, half-hidden behind cardboard cutouts. The handmade props surround the cast of Roseville High School’s newest musical cast, created by junior Ike Bischof.

The musical features two high school students, named Eli and Ray, who are spending their summer together running a theater.

Cardboard is a prominent theme in the musical, and its presence originates from Bischof’s past personal experiences.

“For me, the idea was cardboard. I love building things out of cardboard. I did it as a kid all the time and I still do it, and I thought it would be nice to make a story about that,” Bischof said. “Then I thought about characters, and plot, and what would be the conflict of the story and the whole story.”

Bischof sees the musical as a great chance to connect with his classmates turned castmates and create a long-lasting tribute to theatre.
“The most rewarding part will be working with all my classmates and seeing what they can contribute, because my classmates are so talented and they’re going to bring so much to this and they’re going to bring ideas I never even thought of,” Bischof said.

Senior Sierra Rosillo, who is part of the play, also believes that this project is the perfect creative outlet and lets students come together and collaborate effectively to pull together a show full of inventiveness and spirit.

“It’s important in a musical to get close to everybody because the chemistry really helps with the way everyone interacts on stage, and especially if the actors are plating people who are suppose to be close – it really helps in that way,” Rosillo said.

Fellow cast member Makayla Whitsell’s friends played a part in convincing her to audition for the musical. In addition, the previously successful student-run works students from the drama program had produced sealed the deal for Whitsell.

“I saw Intertwined by Doug and I saw that the student productions here are really well produced and I thought it would be a good idea to audition for a musical written by a student,” Whitsell said. “Also my friends were auditioning and I thought it would just be a good experience.”

Junior Summer Eden is another member of the cast. While she is proud of how far they’ve come and many of the successes they’ve experienced in the process of creating a play, Eden also felt that there were some challenges related to moving the play forward and getting everyone’s full participation.

“The hardest part is getting everyone to come to rehearsals and making sure everyone gets their lines memorized is huge,” Eden said. “Making sure everyone gets their lines memorized is very very important and we want to be off book as soon as possible.”

Ike’s original assumptions of what it would be like to direct a musical definitely changed once the process began.

“What I didn’t realize going into this [is] it’s a lot more planning than I expected,” Bischof said. “Being the director, it turns out you do a lot less directing than I expected and a lot more planning and getting people together and things like that.”