Ridge Devil’s Quill recently reached out to Koen Branco for his thoughts on the upcoming Ridge musical.
“If I had to describe this play best, I would describe it as organized chaos. The reason I would describe it like this is mainly because there is so much going on, so many little details that are taken into account, that it’s almost chaotic when they’re all put together. However, they move so seamlessly between each other and with each other that it’s almost like a dance. It is all put together in this beautiful masterpiece displayed on a stage that you can’t help but love.
In my personal opinion, I do believe this has the most mood lighting in a show that we’ve ever had, as the whole world seems to display what’s going on on stage, even though it may be hectic. If you just watch the performance, you’ll have the best time of your life. And if you watch it and start taking notice of all the little things happening in the background, you’ll have this beautiful understanding and be swept up in this world that we were able to create in the time that we were given.
To some people, the time we were given was quite a lot of time, but when really building a show and building this world you want to transport you into, it almost feels like no amount of time is enough. But with all our hard work and long hours, we were able to craft this world, and we’re hoping that when you do go to see it, the lights, the sound, the stage just kind of brings you into it, and that is all we always hope for.
One thing that I always notice is how the stage and everything look so detailed and so immaculate, but they always fulfill their goal of just constantly bringing you back to the actors and always just enhancing their performance and putting you in this almost trance-like state where you never want to leave the world and you never want to just go back to everyday life.
That also kind of describes how drama club is, with it being this grander-than-life place where we just build upon each other’s strength. I also believe this helps us with our performance since we don’t work in individual pods separated from each other; we’re always so intermingled. Even if you might have an entirely different skill set, you’re never alone.
I would like to bring a little light to one of the most underrated crews, which is the tech crew. Even though you might not physically see us on stage, you do hear us. We provide the sound effects and the actual mics which help you hear the actors. We also do all the lights, which, in my words, really help you feel like you’re right next to the actors on stage. Not putting down any other crew because every crew is important, but if the tech crew didn’t do as best as the job we do, then the world might look flat or one-dimensional. But with the great lights and how we always get the coloring just right, you kind of get swept up even more into this world.
So I urge you to come see the show and get swept up into this world and truly see what we’ve built and listen to what we’ve practiced day and night for. And I hope it does not leave a bad taste in your mouth, so please go see “Something Rotten”.”
-Koen Branco
Be sure to catch Ridge’s production of Something Rotten, with performances Feb 29-Mar 2!