As Spring Sing approaches, the production team heading up Harding’s large-scale show is in crunch mode with only a few more weeks to go until the Benson curtain rises.
Spring Sing Producer Cindee Stockstill said that from a technical perspective, everything is going according to plan. The program design is currently being tweaked and approved by club show directors, and the club shows are all at least 75 percent finished with choreography and staging. By April 12, clubs will be required to be 100 percent finished with their show in order to receive the full amount of points available for judging. Stockstill also said that a lighting company has recently met with the production team to discuss and plan the new addition of lasers to Spring Sing.
Not only have club shows been meeting deadlines, but the jazz band and ensemble arrangements have all been completed as well, Stockstill said. The hosts and ensemble have staged all of their numbers and the club show intros are well on their way to being completed. While most of the process has stayed the same through the “new” year, Stockstill said that there were still several elements being added this year that were changing things significantly.
“We have eight club shows this year, which is more than we have ever had before,” Stockstill said. “The show feels bigger with more people than ever, and so we’ve added new elements with lasers and more lights than we’ve had in the past. With each of these new elements comes a significant amount of extra work to make these elements into a cohesive, multimedia production.”
Despite all of the extra work, assistant director junior Sarah Harris said the production team is still running smoothly and impressively well. Even though she is a new addition to the staff, she said she feels as if she has been working with them for years.
“I have really enjoyed getting to work alongside (director) Steve (Frye) and Cindee,” Harris said. “They are both phenomenal at what they do, and they often go above and beyond what is required of them. For Spring Sing to happen each year, there has to be some divine intervention, and the production team works very hard to make all of these moving parts come together seamlessly.”
Every year of Spring Sing has its own driving force, embodied by the theme chosen by Frye, Stockstill said. Even amidst all of the chaos and work, Stockstill said he always likes to go back and remember why they chose the theme “New” for this year’s show.
“The word ‘new’ encompasses a whole lot of things,” Stockstill said. “It’s saying hello to a new president, a new freshman experience or becoming a new creation when you become a Christian. There are lots of different and exciting things we are planning on doing with the word ‘new’.”
