Before the curtain opens and the audience gets to their seats, the cast of “Lost Girl” begins their routines including, mic checks, team bonding and nervous releases. These routines were done each night through Nov. 13 to Nov. 15.

Behind the scenes of each performance, there is a lot that goes on backstage between the cast and the crew. There are traditions, rituals, energy shifts, inside jokes and encouragements. However, the only way to truly understand what these are is to be there.

There are things that the cast does to get ready for a performance. Some are with the group together, while others are by themselves.

About 30 minutes before the show, the castmates are laughing with each other, and their energy is very lighthearted and excited, as they have fun before the nerves of performing arise. 

Twenty minutes before the show, they do a group spin-out. A spin-out occurs when each cast member places their right arm over their left and interlocks their hands with those of the people on either side. One student starts the hand-squeezing part of the spin out, and once it boomerangs back, they spin out to a line in the play.

“It’s a tradition among the plays and all that-is, we all gather around in the choir room when call time is 20 till,” Randolph said. “We gather in a line, we do final thoughts, final encouragements. We hold hands, and we close our eyes, and we squeeze each other’s hand. We do it in a circle, and it boomerangs. We spin out at the end of that-when it’s boomeranged back to the person who started-to a line in the play.”

They recited different iconic lines from the play each night. On Thursday night, it was “eight minutes.” This line was significant because it was the number of minutes that Wendy gave herself each day to think about Peter. 

On Friday night, it was “you’re a dainty little flower,” signifying a scene where the lost boys were hyping Wendy up and joking around with her, and she denied being dainty. 

On the last night-Saturday night-they span out to “locks can’t keep me out.” This line was chosen due to the significance of the very end of the play when Peter comes back.

Right before the show, when all the students are backstage, they begin to focus on coping with their nerves. Each student has a unique way of dealing with or managing their nerves.

“I think just everyone has their own way of coping,” Mallory said. “My way of coping is I just like to sit in one spot and focus on something, so that my mind’s not thinking all over the place about these random things I can’t control.”

Both Randolph and Mallory are in Speech and Debate. Speech and Debate requires the members to compete every Saturday. So, they have to figure out what they will be speaking or debating, write their own, depending on what they do, and memorize it to perform. So, reciting lines and being nervous is not new to either of them.

“I’m so used to having nerves before big things,” Randolph said. “I compete every Saturday. And every Saturday I find myself in some way incredibly nauseously nervous at the idea of placing and being at the top six of the tournament.”

While some cast members were performing, others waited behind the curtain, in the space between the spotlight and the backstage shadows.

There were quiet giggles and suppressed laughter among the awaiting cast members. If someone was too loud, another would shush them, while the surrounding cast members would struggle not to laugh from the unexpected scolding.

Due to the smaller size of the cast and the amount of time they spent together practicing, their bond began to grow strong, creating a very encouraging environment for those involved.

“Since we were such a small cast, we worked very, very well together,” Mallory said. “So, backstage, we were always kind of smiling, always kind of giggling, always kind of joking around with each other. We were all finding different ways to have fun while we were not onstage or when we were waiting to do our own thing.”

Because Saturday night was their last show, it was their last chance to perform as perfectly as they could.

“I think every single person in this cast put whatever they could into it. And I felt it, and it bounced off of my acting very well, and it helped me push through,” Randolph said. “There were a lot of times where I would come to practice, and I would be the least motivated there.”

Randolph was on stage throughout most of the show because the production told the story of Peter Pan from Wendy’s perspective. Although she appeared in most of the scenes, she had only two favorite scenes.

“I adore the Act 2 Mother scene when we’re talking about ‘are the walls painted?’ ‘No dear’ ‘They look painted’ ‘It’s wallpaper dear’ I love that scene because it feels so- It’s so perfect to me; Caitlin and I. And I also really love when Mason sits on my lap, that lost boy scene. I adore that too. So, those are my two favorite scenes.”

Mallory was on stage at the beginning and end of the show, as the focus of the show was on Wendy missing Peter when he went away. He came back at the end of the show and was in the last two scenes.

“In the least self-centered way possible, I feel like the ending of the show between Peter and Wendy, even though, yes, it’s my scene,” said Mallory. “I feel like it’s just such a good capstone of the show. It’s a long scene and it’s very emotional. I just feel like me and Kendall brought a lot of nuance to our characters through that scene. We brought a lot of our characterization through that. And I think it really translated well on the stage.”

During the last scene of the show between Peter and Wendy, all of the other cast members were watching. They were either stage right or stage left, sitting and watching the closing scene.

Saturday night was the last night that the show would be performed. There were heavy emotions and mourning throughout the cast, as they knew the show was coming to an end.

“I was this character. This specific person that I dreamed about being the moment I heard that Lost Girl was going to be the play,” Randolph said. “It’s the character my younger sisters love watching in Peter Pan.”

At the very end of the show, when everyone was done performing, the cast went into the cafeteria where the awaiting audience was waiting. Cast members’ families and friends were waiting with flowers and gifts for them.