“There he is!”
Junior Jihoon Song pulls down his cap as he walks into the gymnasium and ducks behind a long row of guys playing catch. The junior has hustled to the gym to compete for a spot on the baseball team and has already earned more than his fair share of heckling since he’s arrived. It’s not every day that you see an undead guy come to tryouts.
Song is in full makeup for the simultaneous dress rehearsal of “The Addams Family.” His whole face is covered in vivid makeup for his role as an undead Addams ancestor, and while the rest of the cast prepares to debut the show in 24 hours, Song is making the most of the single hour he can spend at tryouts.
“[Social studies teacher and varsity coach Tim] Mullen has really supported me during the process,” Song says. “He told me, ‘Come for however long you can; I’m just glad you’re making the effort to make it.’”
A first-year cast member, Song is returning to the stage this year for the first time since his debut in Boulan Park Middle School’s production of “Guys and Dolls” three years ago.
“Jihoon’s about a 10 out of 13 at theatre,” junior cast member Brent Duller said. “He doesn’t know the notes to the songs, but he’s cute, so that’s a plus.”
As ancestors, Song and some of his cast-mates made use of their less strict rehearsals to try to lighten the mood.
“We’re not as important as the leads, so we mess around in the back sometimes,” he said. “We used to throw around an imaginary box at rehearsal, but somebody threw it [into the rafters] and we couldn’t build a ladder to get it down.”
Fortunately for the participants, this game did not draw any negative attention at rehearsal.
“We didn’t get in trouble because nobody could see the box,” junior cast member Wonyoung Kang said.
Stepping back into the cage for batting, Song sees 15 pitches. He drills a few back at the pitcher as senior Robert Banas cheers him on, and he ends the at bat watching four pitches sail by off the plate. Minutes later, he’s sprinting past the cafeteria to get back before the first act of the musical ends.
“I struck a guy out, which was great,” Song says in between heavy breaths. “I think I did pretty well today.”
Following tryouts, Song was placed on the varsity roster.