The theater’s lights turn on, and the actors shuffle in. Students work hard to prepare for tech week and the performances with the new director, Caitlin Cremins.

The upcoming Theatre Aspen musical, Bye Bye Birdie, is buzzing among the theater community. The opening night of the show, Thursday, November 13, is fast approaching. Actors are working in new roles to prepare for tech week with a new director bringing creative techniques and ideas to the show. This is the week of rehearsals before the show, when the stagehands, lighting, sound, and prop operators come in to pull the show together.

Cremins is a recent graduate of the University of Hartford, where she studied theater and music, and then secured her job as the Theatre Aspen Teacher at AHS. She’s excited to bring a new set of eyes toAspen and hopes to inspire students to enhance their skills. Cremins wants to tailor characters to their actors, not the other way around.

“It’s exciting to see the cast members develop their actor instincts and engage in creativity and curiosity,” Cremins said.

Jacob Owsley, an AHS senior and actor in Bye Bye Birdie, noticed Cremins’s style. He picked theatre back up during high school when deciding to get more serious about it, and has earned the role of Conrad Birdie, a major character in the show. ASD students may have seen him in shows such as Anastasia, Little Shop of Horrors, or Puffs the Musical. Owsley’s high school theatre experience has inspired him to pursue a future career in acting.

“I just think it’s made me feel better about my ability to adapt to any environment, like any theater,” Owlsey said.

Despite it being Cremins’s first year in Aspen, she has already made a lasting impression on every cast member of Bye Bye Birdie, and hopes to continue to feed the students’ passion for the theater.

“At the end of the day, theater is all about being creative and taking risks and coming together to create something unique,” Cremins says.