Every year the students at MAST Academy present its spring musical. This year, the performing arts club brings In the Heights to MAST.
As opening day approaches, the directors and performers have been rehearsing daily in preparation for their performance. President of the Drama club, junior Sara Ruiz-Meza, takes on the role of Abuela Claudia and of one of the directors of the school musical.
“It’s a lot of pressure and a lot of stress, and I love my cast, but sometimes it can be hard to handle a group of 20 students,” Ruiz-Meza said in an interview with The Beacon on her experience as director.
However, the director is only one part of the production. To make a musical, multiple people are needed to work together and put in the effort to make it shine.
Senior Santiago Lastra, who plays the role of Usnavi, is one of the main leads in the musical.
Lastra’s role encaptulates a very charismatic and heartful man. Usnavi’s character is also at the vocal level of a baritone and mostly uses unique rap narrative throughout the musical, which Lastra has mastered.
Sophomore Sebastian Mross, better known as Benny, auditioned for the musical when he found out all his friends were thinking of taking part in the musical.
“All my friends were interested in it, so I thought I’d audition and surprisingly I got a good role, and I’ve been working hard to make my peers proud,” Mross said.
When preparing for opening night, Mross said, “I just have to take a couple minutes to sit down and psych myself up. Because, you know, it takes a lot of nerve to stand up on the stage and perform in front of a lot of people.”
Mross enjoys the reward of being in a musical as it keeps him passionate and he loves the feeling of being part of something so big.
Sophomore Phoenix Argon, who plays the role of Nina Rosario, has had a love for musical theater all her life. She said she was excited to be cast in In the Heights, since she has loved the musical since she was young.
“I’m always singing and I love getting on stage. It’s really exciting and since I’ve never had such a big role I’m really passionate about it,” Argon said.
Argon shared on her experience preparing for the musical. During rehearsals, she spends hours everyday with her co-stars for the three weeks leading up to the show.
“We spend a lot of time together and it’s a lot of fun, you learn pretty much everything about your co-stars and the cast becomes kind of like a bit of a family,” Argon said.
Argon also spoke to The Beacon about how she puts up with the stress of playing a big role in the musical: “I always tell myself that I got this. I hype myself up and remind myself how long I’ve been rehearsing for and how hard I’ve worked.”
Tickets and Info
Tickets are now on sale for parents and students, with a student discount available for only Opening Night, which will be on March 13 at 3:30pm. Piraguero Night is March 14 at 6pm, where they will be selling shaved ice cups, and Senior Night will be March 15 at 6pm, which will be the final show that the seniors will participate in for MAST Academy.
