Stern College Dramatics Society: A Behind the Scenes Look

Preparations for the Stern College Dramatics Society (SCDS) fall play are well underway. Believe it or not, a remarkable amount of work goes into a play before opening night. Since last summer, the cast and crew have been working tirelessly to create a production that is worthy of the Schottenstein Theater stage.

Over the summer, the SCDS co-presidents, Eliana Diamond (SCW ‘25) and Rivka Inger (SCW ‘25) and director Leah Gottfried (SCW ‘14) read through a number of scripts before they finally settled on “The Man who Came to Dinner.” The 1939 comedy follows a New York City radio wit, Sheridan Whiteside, and the hilarity that ensues when he gets stuck at a friend’s house for an extended period of time.

SCDS was originally drawn towards this play because of its large cast size. Diamond told The Commentator that “Rivka and I noticed an increase in people who wanted to be involved with the play production, be they actors or crew members, and we made it a priority when choosing a play to find one which could accommodate this demand.” 

“The Man who Came to Dinner” was originally suggested by Diamond’s grandmother, and when the presidents read it, they were struck by its cleverness and funny writing. “We want audiences to come and escape into this world of the Stanley home and leave the theater with big smiles on their faces,” Diamond explained, referencing the fictional home that Whiteside gets stuck in. 

As soon as the semester started, the rest of the cast and crew got involved: auditions took place in early September, and the cast was announced a day later. In order to coordinate rehearsals, or as some cast members refer to it, “play practice,” the stage managers Elisheva Weiner (SCW ‘25) and Talia Feldman (SCW ‘26) have been responsible for ensuring that 14 cast members and both stage managers are available to be in the same place at the same time. Rehearsals occur two to three times a week for two to four hours. On top of that, each stellar cast member has been working on their own character individually in any spare time they might have — one cast member attested to practicing her lines in the shower. For another, getting into character requires learning how to properly maneuver a wheelchair. 

“It’s been really amazing … I also did it last year but this year it’s not new, so I feel like I have a hold on it,” Feldman told The Commentator. “A challenge is coordinating everybody’s schedules and remembering about this person and that person and this conflict and that conflict and also the school schedule.” She continued saying, “I really like seeing all these people grow into their roles.”

On the crew end of things, the creative head Dalya Eichler (SCW ‘25) has been overseeing the costume, props and set teams. Aliza Flug (SCW ‘26), Yaffa Gottleib (SCW ‘27) and Leah Reichlin (SCW ‘26) have been working harder than anyone. Over the past few weeks, Stern students have generously donated copious amounts of cardboard toward a “good Egyptian cause,” which turned out to be a handmade sarcophagus that made the Brookdale back lounge its home. The whole student body benefited from SCDS’s dependability for providing constant real-time updates on the sarcophagus’s status via Stern in the Know. 

The teams are also busy designing, sewing and thrifting more than 60 costumes. Based on my calculation, that adds up to significantly more than one per person, and so we can look forward to a lot of wardrobe changes throughout the play. Moriya Leviav (SCW ‘28) has been curating a collection of sound effects, including ringing phones, doorbells and Christmas music. In addition, Temima Schechter (SCW ‘27) designed a flyer to publicize the play which will also serve as the cover of the playbill.

Despite the hard work that preparing for the play entails, the cast and crew all agree that it’s fun, and involvement in SCDS is one of the many reasons that “life is a joy,” said Aliza Billet (SCW ‘26).

The Man who Came to Dinner will debut on Dec. 8. There will be three shows in total: on Dec. 8, 10 and 12.

Photo Caption: SCDS play’s flyer advertisement

Photo Credit: Temima Schechter