![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Cast lists for 2022 Student Directed Showcase plays announced
Saumi Mehta (12), one of the four senior directors, participates in a staged reading of the play “Squad Goals” on Oct. 1. The student directors posted the cast lists for all the plays on Saturday.
October 21, 2021
The Student Directed Showcase (SDS) student directors announced the cast list for the 2022 SDS productions in a Schoology post on Saturday.
Performing Arts Director Laura-Lang Ree uploaded a post on Schoology to the Harker Conservatory group with congratulatory messages and a link to cast lists for all four plays in the show. The selected plays being performed this year are “Squad Goals,” written by Don Zolidis and directed by Richie Amarillas (12); “Removing the Glove,” written by Clarence Coo and directed by Ysabel Chen (12); “The Complete History of America,” written by Adam Long, Austin Tichenor and Reed Martin and directed by Josh Field (12) and “Governing Alice,” written by C. Derby Swanson and directed by Saumi Mehta (12).
“While you may have not gotten the role you wanted or were thinking you would get, we assure you that if you go all in, this will be an amazing experience for everyone,” Lang-Ree said in the post. “As always, please make sure you treat everyone this week with the proper respect, compassion and empathy.”
The cast list shows 12 cast members for “Squad Goals,” 10 cast members for “Removing the Glove,” 11 cast members for “The Complete History of America” and nine cast members for “Governing Alice.” All four plays will be performed in shows on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8.
Junior Lucy Feng, who will play the role of Alice in “Governing Alice,” completed the process of auditions and callback auditions, which involved performing a monologue to the four directors.
“I personally really enjoyed callbacks, and auditions are always scary, but once you’re done with them, you’re done with them,” Lucy said. “The directors did a good job at casting, because I know it must have been very difficult.”
Josh Field, the senior director leading “The Complete History of America”, oversaw the auditions and helped plan callbacks and the final casting decision and is excited to be able to start working with the cast soon.
“It’s so exciting [to have the cast announced],” Josh said. “I’m really happy with my cast. I’ve got some great people. It’s fun that they finally know, and we can start building that cast culture that we like to provide in SDS and get ready for rehearsals.”
Rehearsals for the SDS plays will start around the week of Nov. 8. Auditions for the plays took place on Oct. 11 and Oct. 12 during lunch and after school, with callback auditions in the afternoon of Oct. 14. Before the cast list auditions, students had the opportunity to participate in staged readings on Oct. 1 and Oct. 5 to become more familiar with the plays and scripts.
Josh looks forward to reading through the script with the cast members and hearing their voices when rehearsals begin.
“I’m really just so excited to hear all the characters in combination, read through the entire show,” Josh said. “The shows are wonderful in text, and you can read them and hear all the character voices in your head, but once you get people reading them for you and you see their facials and their gestures and their movement, that’s when everything really starts to come together. You really get to see something magical.”
