A Right to Rule: Sequoia Drama’s student written and produced musical

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On May 26 and 27, Sequoia’s Drama Club put on a production of A Right to Rule, written by senior and Drama Club member Joshua Thacker. 

“This show, seeing as it’s student written, this is the first time it’s ever being shown, [which] means if something is messed up, only the actor or the tech member can give [that] away,” junior and assistant stage manager Liam Coan said. 

The show was spectacular, but putting it on brought some challenges. Being fully student-made meant there was room for extreme creativity though also less time for rehearsals and to work fully as a group. 

“This musical meant a month of having rehearsals once a week, and then a month of three rehearsals per week, so we had [about] a quarter to a third of the usual rehearsal time,” Thacker said.

“Something that was difficult for us was [that] a lot of people had a lot of different ideas. We had multiple directors and producers, multiple choreographers, and Josh [who] all want to have a say, and it took a lot for them to compromise,” junior and cast member Joey Corea said.  

The whole musical was entirely student-run, from directors to producers to tech. Though many actors enjoyed this, some also struggled with the lack of structure. 

“It kind of made it feel like there’s a little less direction and a little more infighting because you don’t have that one person directing everybody,” Johnny Berry, a sophomore who did sound effects for the show, said.

The show on Saturday had some setbacks, such as the speakers not playing the soundtrack for the show. Fortunately, Thacker was able to save the day. 

“I wrote everything for the piano originally, which is why I was able to [play] so well. All the other instrumentals and stuff are just added on top of the piano orchestration.” Thacker said.