Senior School Production

A Prefect's Reflection

Last week we had our School Production, Once Upon a One More Time. And when we watch a production like that, we usually see the finished version. We see the lights coming up. We see the costumes. We see people walking onto the stage and somehow knowing exactly where to stand. We see the choreography, the singing, the acting. And for two hours, everything looks effortless.

But it isn't.

Because what we don't see is everything that happened before the audience walked through those doors. 

We don't see the dance that took weeks to get right. We don't see the work backstage that makes the production come to life. And we don't see all the moments where something went wrong and someone had to say, Okay. Let's try that again.

But there is something else we don't see.

We don't always see how many people had to help each other to make the final production happen. The actors couldn't perform without someone operating the lights. But the lights wouldn't matter if there was no one on stage to illuminate. Someone needed to build the set, play the music, call the cues. And when something went wrong, someone else had to step in. Maybe someone helped another person remember a line, fixed a costume five minutes before they had to go on stage, stayed behind when they could have gone home.

Or maybe someone noticed that another person was struggling and simply asked, Do you need help?

None of those things were necessarily seen by the audience.

But all of them mattered.

A production doesn't happen because one person is good at what they do. It happens because a whole group of people are willing to do their part, and to help each other do theirs. And I think that's something we can take beyond the production. Because school can sometimes feel like everyone is working on their own thing. We have our own subjects, assignments, friends, problems, goals. And it can be easy to think, I've got enough going on. Someone else can deal with that.

But we're still part of the same community.

And sometimes helping someone doesn't have to be a huge gesture. It can be explaining a science concept when someone doesn't understand it. Sharing your notes when someone was away. Including someone who might otherwise be left out. Or simply noticing that someone needs help and choosing not to walk past. Because we don't always know how much a small thing can matter to someone else.

The production showed us that. Every person had their own role. But no role existed completely on its own. The actor needed the technician. The technician needed the stage crew. The stage crew needed the people who built the set. And everyone needed each other to make the final performance work. And I think school is much the same. We all have different strengths, responsibilities, and different things going on. But we're still part of the same production, in a way.

And the kind of community we create depends on what we choose to do for the people around us. Because sometimes, helping someone else doesn't take much from us. But it can make a huge difference to them.

Last week, we saw the final performance of Once Upon a One More Time. But there was no single person responsible for that final performance. It belonged to everyone. And I think that's something worth carrying with us after the production is over. 

We don't have to wait for a big moment to be part of something together. We can start with the small things. And remember that even when we're focused on our own part, we're still part of something bigger. Because sometimes, the best thing we can do isn't to make our own part of the production better. It's to make someone else's part a little easier.

Thank you.

Ruby R., Year 12 Prefect