In order to audition for a principal role, a member must have completed one year in chorus. Principal roles are given to members who successfully audition for the part(s). Being a Principal usually involves many spoken lines and sometimes solo or duet singing parts.

Chorus

The Chorus make up the majority of the cast and often portray villagers or townsfolk. Being in the chorus involves learning and perfecting dance routines, sometimes up to eight to ten different ones! Additionally, the chorus are involved in most of the songs and sometimes will be required to sing in harmony under the guidance of the Musical Director. Occasionally, members of the chorus will be given a few spoken lines.

Backstage

While the cast of a show are the people in the public eye, the Society have a dedicated team working behind the scenes who provide the vital support needed to produce a show. A varied range of activities take place backstage before and during a show, which gives those involved an interesting and exciting challenge. Led by the Producer, who co-ordinates all the production requirements, the main backstage departments are Wardrobe, Props and Scenery.

Wardrobe - HAPS has a costume store that contains a vast range of both Principal and Chorus costumes in a variety of styles and colours. For any one production costumes are both reused from stock, with any necessary alterations in trimmings and size, or made new. We have a team of costume makers who over a six to seven month period, prepare upwards of 200 costumes for a pantomime cast of 40 to 50 people.

Props - Props are items of stage dressing and objects carried or used by the cast during the show and covers a large array of items. In recent years our props team have made items such as tankards, swords, a battery hen, even a giant spider! The props team are also responsible for looking after these items during the run of a show.

Scenery - The first job for the scenery department is to decide on the requirements for a show as regards to styles of scenery and any particular script requirements, such as working doors and windows or raised platforms. The scenery is usually hired from a professional company, although some special items of scenery, which may be particular to a script, are occassionally made by the scenery team and a small stock of such items are held in storage. During a show the stagecrew are responsible for setting the scenery and changing it between the various scenes. The stagecrew are usually the first people into the theatre before a show, to arrange the scenery and set up cloths, lighting and special effects. Our productions can range from as few as four different scenes, with some repeated, to as many as nine full stage scenes with shorter front of tabs scenes in between. This gives the stagecrew time to change the main scenery.

Front of House

The Front of House team's main responsibilities are during show week and include selling programmes, novelties, raffle tickets and collecting donations.

Chaperones

Because HAPS has a thriving junior chorus of children under 16 years old, Chaperones are required during show week in accordance with the Society's Child Protection Policy. The main responsibilities of a Chaperone is to look after the children, ensure they are on time for stage appearances, have the correct make-up and costumes on and generally to keep them happy, calm and quiet when not on stage.

Anyone interested in joining HAPS in the backstage, front of house or Chaperone departments, would be made most welcome.
Please contact the Secretary, Louise Hickey on;
Email: louhickey@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01531 635133