010 Fall Musical A YEARBOOK FEATURE WRITING *MARIA SAKOWSKI * OMAHA MARIAN HIGH SCHOOL 011

The Sound of Love: Maddie Dushan [16] watches Noah Jeffrey sing on stage. Unlike Jeffrey, this was Dushan’s first musical.

Lights, Camera, Action: Gigi Hausman [17], Juliet Kolterman [17] and Maddie Dushan [16] look through a window to the crowd. The set crew brought this scene to life.

Bon Voyage: The cast of RAGS transforms into a “boat” during the third scene of the musical. This is where many of the characters first came on stage and were introduced to the audience.

Pots ‘n Pans: With Devon Gottsch [16] looking on, Mitch Henderson gazes out into the audience. The cast performed the musical seven times throughout October and November.

“They [the crew] in-spire me and bring out the best in me, push-ing and driving me to strive for greatness.”Maddie Dushan [16]

As the curtain closed for the last time on Nov. 8 it was a bitter-

sweet moment for the entire cast, crew, and orchestra of RAGS. The months of hard work and dedication were done. For Maddie Dushan [16] this was the first time she felt such sweet sorrow for a production because she had never been a part of one be-fore. In fact, she hadn’t even tried out for a play or musical before.

“Knowing that it was my senior year and that this musical was my last chance to do what I love, I figured I would try out just for fun,” Dushan said.

When the cast list was posted she could hardly believe her eyes. “I was in complete disbelief and shock, but I have never been more happy and proud of myself,” Dushan said.

She had gotten the lead role in the musical. She played Rebecca Hershkow-itz, an immigrant coming to America in search of her husband.

She faced many challeng-es in perfecting her role. “The hardest part was definitely preparing my lines and put-

ting myself into the po-sition and character of Rebecca,” Dushan said.

The seri-ous over-tone of the

musical was difficult to adopt into her acting.

As she practiced more and more, she could feel her-self portraying her character more accurately. “Towards the end of the performances, Mr. McCandless (the stage director) affirmed that I had truly become her,” she said.

Dushan had to dedicate a large portion of her time to

RAGS and at first she strug-gled with time management, but the cast and the crew made it all worth it to her. “They inspire me and bring out the best in me, pushing and driving me to strive for greatness,” Dushan said.

She developed a particu-larly close relationship with Gigi Hausman [17] who co-starred with her as Bella Co-hen, Rebecca’s close friend. Dushan’s favorite song of the musical was “If We Never Meet Again” with Hausman.

“Physical tears were streaming down our faces during the last performance while singing this song,” Dushan said.

Dushan said she will remember this musical ex-perience forever. “The most influential and impacting lesson that the musical has taught me is to strive to be my best self, to be confident in my abilities, and to always appreciate the amazing gifts and talents that God has blessed me with,” she said.

From RAGS to richesA senior’s journey to center stage