BY LIZZIE DEADRICK

Every year, the Saturday before the musical’s opening night is a special day. For the first time, the entire cast gathers to piece together a show that has, until now, only been a mish-mash of scenes and songs.

The cast spends the entire day, 10 AM to 6PM, working to pull it all together. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking and tiring and, now, you get to “experience” it. Take a look behind-the-scenes of Tech Day…

10:00 AM- Arrive and head into the band room for our first look at our costumes. I have an orphan costume and a servant costume, which look great. I, as orphan Pepper, make a very convincing 9-year-old girl in my frumpy dress and oversized sweater.

10:30- Walk around and say hi to my fellow castmates. Everyone is ooohing and ahhing over their costumes and the awesome set, built by Dennis Koenigsknecht and a hard-working crew of parents.

11:00- Begin the dog scenes. We don’t want to make Katie Wray’s dog Casey stay all day, so we do his scenes first. As an orphan having her first Christmas, I have to act excited and jolly. It’s a bit early for that kind of energy.

12:00 PM- Katie Peters, who plays Annie, nails the show’s classic theme, Tomorrow, alongside little Casey. The rest of Casey’s scenes go well so we let him go home and move on to a full run-through. From the top!

12:30- The first act is going well. The orphans know their Hard Knock Life dance pretty well, but we need to improve the vocals. Director Liz McGahey and conductor Sean Cameron spend a few minutes helping us perfect our singing.

1:00- The scary Miss Hannigan, played by Katie Arends, enters to perform a scene. Her snarky attitude and mean lines are definitely going to frighten our audience (in a good way!).

1:30- From the orphanage to the Warbucks mansion! Grace Farrell, played by Kelly Kauffman, performs beautifully as the

millionaire Warbucks’s assistant. She introduces Annie to the staff of servants and the fancy home.

2:00- Break for a lunch of Subway sandwiches. We’re warned by director Lee Lowery to be extremely careful and not spill on our brand new costumes.

2:30- Back to work, starting with Act II. Miss Hannigan, Rooster (Braxton Stricker) and Lily St. Regis (Emma Welch) work on a scene where they plot to kidnap Annie.

3:00- Peter Laug, as Daddy Warbucks, fights his Justin Beiber looks to appear like a middle-aged bald man. Unfortunately, he’s just too cute. But his fantastic acting and gruff character voice create a pretty convincing illusion.

4:00- Things are going well. We feel like we may actually pull this off in time for our opening night on Friday.

5:00- We attempt the finale, A New Deal For Christmas, once again. Miraculously, the dance looks alright.

5:45- After a practice run of Act I and a full run-through of the entire show, we are all exhausted. The directors gather the cast in the auditorium for notes. Only a few things to work on—we need to get our energy up, be sharper on dance moves and project a little louder. Thankfully, we have a few more days to make it all performance-ready!

Performances of Annie are on March 16, 17, and 18. For tickets, visit the box office during lunch or call 271-7664. $5 for students, $10 for adults.