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CULTURE
Appleton, Wisconsin Spring 2016 Vol. XXI Issue II Page 10
By Caroline Holmes
Behind the stage with KamyVeith andMaddy
Cuff
Pitch perfect: A North senior and his musical superpower
ANHS juniors and Lightning theatre stage managers Kamy Veith, pictured left,
and Maddy Cuff, pictured right, show a small glimpse of The Little Mermaid’s
set.
Photo by Caroline Holmes
Jack Russell, a senior at
Appleton North, possesses
the rare talent of perfect
pitch.
“You can name any key
in music theory, know ev-
ery note in the universe,
and be able to recognize
colors and hues that each
pitch gives off,” said Rus-
sell, who starred in North’s
“The Little Mermaid”
as
Prince Eric; his ability to
sing every note with mi-
raculous tune was an unde-
niable asset to his perfor-
mance.
His uncanny superpow-
er-like ability is not always
an asset, however. Russell
often finds himself over
analyzing musical perfor-
mances because of his keen
ear. “If a vocalist sings a
song in a different key than
it was written, or if a single
string is perhaps two cents
sharp, it may not seem like
such a big deal to the aver-
age person. My brain says
otherwise—sometimes it
is difficult to act or speak
when such occurrences
happen,” said Russell.
“I can’t view most live
shows or productions with-
out constantly being bom-
barded with audio-sensory
mayhem. The performance
may be absolutely fantas-
tic regardless. Perhaps the
biggest drawback is large
crowds. To me, every hu-
man voice has a distinct
timbre and pitch. Ever
heard an orchestra, in ca-
cophony, warming up?
Anytime I’m at a pep rally,
that’s what I hear—and I
want to run, hide, or curl up
into a ball.”
“My performance kids,
both solo and groups, are
aided greatly by this skill,”
Russell said. “I can tune an
ensemble, provide starting
pitches, and instantly rec-
ognize when a key change
is imminent. Perfect pitch
is a remarkable blessing,
but also a mind-numbing
curse. It allows me to be
the gifted musician I am to-
day as well as on the edge
of being absolutely nuts.”
The Appleton North High
School theatre program
harbors quite the reputation
not only within the com-
munity of Appleton, but
throughout all of Wiscon-
sin. Having won seventeen
consecutive Critics Choice
Awards for their one act
plays at the annual Wiscon-
sin State High School The-
atre Festival, maintaining
such a standing seems dif-
ficult to maintain.
Maddy Cuff and Kamy
Veith are up to the task as
the two current stage man-
agers for Appleton North
theatre. So far, they have
taken lead on the “
Alice
and Wonderland”
one act
and straight shows and
have assistant stage man-
aged “
Mary Poppins
,” last
year’s springmusical, while
Maddy has assistant stage
managed for the “
Journey
to the West”
showcase and
one acts and the “
Romeo
and Juliet”
one act play.
Both Cuff and Veith were
also stage managers for this
year’s spring musical, “
The
Little Mermaid
,” and were
able to give the
Noctiluca
a little insight on not only
their past years’ experience
with stage managing, but
on the job as a whole.
Kamy
: Patience!
Maddy:
Patience is
good! (laughs)
Kamy:
It’s probably the
biggest [skill needed] be-
cause a lot of people will
ask you questions that you
don’t have the answers to,
but they kind of expect you
to, so you just kinda gotta
roll with the punches!
Maddy:
It’s also really
helpful to be organized...
Kamy:
Yes...
Maddy:
We are also full
time students, so you need
to organize theatre as well
as organize yourself, and
it’s always good to know
what’s going on, so you
need to understand what
you need to know. Every-
day for rehearsal we get it
set up by taking attendance
of people who are sup-
posed to be there, and mak-
ing sure all of the props are
ready...and, if we have the
set pieces, we make sure
that they’re ready to re-
hearse with.
Kamy:
And if people
aren’t there who are sup-
posed to be there, we have
to call them and find out
why they aren’t there and if
they’re coming. I enjoy it,
usually. I think it’s fun to
be in kind of a role...in an
“in-charge” role. It’s kind
of funny to watch everyone
scurry around, and you ac-
tually know what’s going
on, it’s good! I like control,
so I like to kind of be in
control, so I can make ev-
erything else kind of flow
nicely.
Maddy
: It’s good work
experience because it’s lots
of fun, but it’s also a really
good learning experience
for how to communicate
professionally, because we
need to, as well as organiz-
ing the kids, correspond
with the adults. There’s a
lot of adults who volunteer
with the program, and we
need to make sure that they
are all in the loop as well.
Kamy:
[On behalf of all
stage managers,] if it’s not
yours don’t touch it, just in
general!
Maddy:
Headsets are
a wonderful invention of
mankind/womankind, and
we love headsets a lot!
Communication is key!
Joining Kamy and Mad-
dy behind the scenes, Yas-
meen Ashour is the student
costumer for the Apple-
ton North theatre depart-
ment. She [has worked]
on
“The Little Mermaid
,
”
and has done costuming
for the
“Journey to the
West”
showcase,
“Mary
Poppins
,
” “The Tempest
,
”
the
“Alice in Wonderland”
straight show, and the
“Al-
ice in Wonderland”
one
act.
Yasmeen:
Not only do
they keep everyone from
panicking in times of high
stress, they work unbeliev-
able hours to keep high
stress situations under
control and to make every-
thing work evenly without
putting extra stress on in-
dividual people. They’re
the ones who take it on in
order to ensure the suc-
cess of the show. Without
the stage managers’ ex-
pertise, and willingness to
take on this responsibility,
our show would fall apart.
Without Kamy and Maddy,
there would be a lack of
moral support, a lack of
ethics and a lack of judge-
ment and control. A lot of
people would rather look at
[the show] and not want to
be as dedicated, but seeing
them [Maddy and Kamy]
and how dedicated they
are, no one wouldn’t want
to please everyone the way
that they do. They lead by
example, and they contrib-
ute more than they even un-
derstand.
By Nora Ptacek
Appleton North senior Jack Russell helps the Varsity
Women’s Choir find their pitch during a pre-concert
rehearsal.
Photo by Maddy Schilling
“I can’t view most
live shows without
being bombarded
with audio-sensory
mayhem.”
H
umans of
n
ortH