As summer vacation ends, a new rotation of school productions begins. In the little theater, students eagerly prepare for this year’s fall play, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, hoping to live up to the standard of their spectacular rendition of The Sound of Music, last spring’s production that left the Ventura community in awe.
Molly Ensminger, head of Buena’s drama program, is also an English teacher on Buena’s campus. After teaching Macbeth for over seven years as part of her curriculum, she felt compelled to bring it to life onstage.
The story takes place in 12th century Scotland and follows a noble named Macbeth. While out usurping other lands for his king, he stumbles upon three witches who predict great things for him, including a throne for himself.
“Because of those predictions, [Macbeth] becomes wildly ambitious as he starts craving the things that are predicted for him,” Ensminger said, “He essentially turns from a relatively normal guy into a power hungry, cruel and flawed individual.”
After a meeting that covers expectations, contracts and various roles in the production, auditions are held to cast the roles. Senior and fourth year drama student Nairi Nahabedian reflected that the audition process was usually stressful, but the positive community helped calm her nerves.
About a week later, the cast list was released. Nahabedian, cast as Lady Macbeth, explains that shortly after the entire cast does a cold read of the script to become familiar with the play.
Shakespeare’s plays, known for their complexities and carefully chosen dialogue, took years for historians and classic literature fanatics to analyze and fully understand. However, with the play’s opening night being only eight weeks away, it seems like an almost impossible feat to memorize and understand lines.
When asked how her students accomplish this, Ensminger responded, “They have memorization techniques and tactics; they know that’s the expectation and it becomes ingrained in their mind.”
Throughout the next few weeks, the cast members go more in depth, breaking down each line. Ensminger stresses the importance of performing their lines out loud to one another constantly in order to be successful in this year’s production.
“Shakespeare’s plays are written to be performed verbally and vocally,” Ensminger said. “You can’t just read it and understand it. It is crucial to hear [the words], the tone, and the range so that you can deliver lines appropriately.”
On the other side of the drama department, the set designers, light and sound production crew and makeup and costume designers are already busy working to beat their deadline.
Lead set designer and senior Santiago Lee-Baez has helped design and construct different sets for three years at Buena. He explained the first steps in the production process are to annotate the script, highlighting what is important in terms of setting.
“Shakespeare is a lot less dependent on the setting, which [gives us more options], leaving room for creativity,” Lee-Baez said.
Because Shakespeare doesn’t specifically explain each setting, it leaves the stagecraft crew with the task of designing Shakespeare’s original forest, engulfed Scottish castle from Macbeth with little to no description, while attempting to make the structure as simple as possible.
This year, stagecraft plans on constructing multiple raised balconies, intricate archways and a rotating periactoid with different settings to fit each scene, hoping to top last school year’s musical production’s impressive seven meticulously crafted sets. With the annual help of Buena’s woodshop class, it is very possible to outdo themselves yet again.
“I want to remind everyone that we’re teenagers,” Lee-Baez said. “There’s a lot of effort that goes in on weekdays and weekends, and there’s a lot more thought that goes into this than people think.”
The lighting and sound production crew also face similar hurdles, tasked with coding and designing the lights and sounds for the two hour long play. Light and sound production leader and senior Chase Dykeman was happy to take on the role, as he expressed that Ensminger allows the students to take creative liberties and design what they think is best for the play.
Although last spring the musical set the bar very high, Ensminger stresses the difference between the two feature plays.
“[Macbeth] is not the same tone as The Sound of Music, whatsoever, or the same grandeur as a musical, but I do want the audience to be entertained. I want them to be drawn into the story and understand why these characters feel the way they do and why they are saying the words they are saying,” Ensminger said.
After witnessing all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing the fall play, watching the curtains draw on opening night is clearly extra special for the people who poured their heart into it.
Make sure to catch Buena’s 2025 fall play, Macbeth, opening in the Buena auditorium November 6th.
