top of page

"The Addams Family" production goes on

MON.| 05-23-22 | FEATURES

     The Rampant Theatrical Company was ready to start preparing for their upcoming performance of The Addams Family when they were faced with a huge challenge: losing not one, but two theatre directors.

     Rose theatre and technical theatre teacher Jackie Golebiowski was set to go on maternity leave and her long-term intern, Chase Coston was set to take her place with the help of Rose Spanish teacher and Technical Theater Director Cristina Borisoff. Before the script could even be handed out to the cast, Coston received a job opportunity that he could not pass up, which left Golebiowski no replacement during her maternity leave.

     “Last semester, I had my intern here all day every day so that he would be prepared to take my place when I left, but at the end of his internship, there was a job opening at his former high school and it was his dream job,” Golebiowski said.

     Due to Golebiowski knowing she was going to be out, the theatre department was not going to put on a spring production until Coston came.

     “Chase… said to me, ‘if I am going to be your long-term sub, I will just direct the show,’ Golebiowski said. “We saw what he could do when he choreographed Aladdin, and he helped out tremendously.”

 

​

addams family pic.jpeg

Contributed photo

     At the beginning of January, Golebiowski, Borisoff and Coston met to decide what to do about the Addams Family musical and if they should continue on with its production.

     “We both looked at Mrs. Borisoff and [we] said, ‘yep, yeah… you can do it [without us]’ and Borisoff said ‘okay, I will think about it,’ and she decided that she would do it,” Golebiowski said.

     Fortunately, Golebiowski was able to help Borisoff with auditions and casting for the show before her absence.

     “I was at her beck and call whenever [Borisoff] had a question about something because it was her first time directing, and I just talked her through it over the phone,” Golebiowski said. ‘It ended up being amazing.”

     From start to finish, Borisoff worked tirelessly to make sure that this production continued on and was the best it could possibly be. Borisoff leaned on others for extra help and added support. She found much of her help from her theatre students.

     “I was leaning on the people around me, the students, and taking really big deep breaths when things got a little bit hectic and crazy,” Borisoff said.

     Borisoff put many of the responsibilities on her students to practice their scripts at home, scheduled weekend rehearsals and even had the actors assume the roles of painting set pieces, which is normally the job of tech crew.

     Rose sophomores and theatre students Caroline Alexander and A’kira McCassling played two of the lead roles in the Addams Family musical. Both girls took part in helping Borisoff in any way they could to ensure that the production of the musical would continue.

     “A lot of us would often go to Mrs. Borisoff’s room when we didn’t have class and asked her ‘how can we help?’ because we knew she was doing the jobs of three people,” McCassling said. 

     This experience allowed for all the students to gain insight on everything that is needed to prepare for a production and the time management skills they had also acquired when they assumed those extra responsibilities to benefit the show’s production.

     “A lot of us took on more responsibilities than usual, but it was good because actors got to see into the life of what it would be like to be a tech crew member,” McCassling said.

     Many of the tech crew members and actors got to contribute to other roles in the show and helped in various ways.

     “I helped in as many ways as I could and I just think that Mrs. Borisoff did a really incredible job juggling everything,” Alexander said.

     Borisoff is lucky to have received such willing students and teachers’ help in everything it takes to have a successful school musical.

     “A lot more goes into a production, especially a musical than it seems,” Borisoff said. “It was definitely a huge challenge that ended in a huge success.”

bottom of page