When Sadie Allgeier attends theater shows, she tends to analyze stage lighting before plot and character development.
Allgeier, a rising junior at Westminster High School, spent years working behind the scenes in theater productions and would prefer to operate the spotlight than act in front of it.
She's had ample opportunity to work with lighting in the comedy "Stage Door" at 7 p.m. Friday and 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Carroll Arts Center in Westminster. Tickets are $7 for general admission and $5 for Carroll County Arts Council members, seniors and students.
"Stage Door" is set in 1930s New York City at a boarding house where 16 actresses are pursuing careers. It is based on the 1937 Academy Award nominated film for Best Picture that featured Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball.
The show features 30 teenage actors from throughout the region who have commuted to the Carroll Arts Center this summer to learn how to put on all aspects of a production. For Allgeier, it meant having full command of the lighting system for the first time.
"It's fun to say, 'I designed the show,'" she said. "I did the whole thing."
Four years ago, Allgeier got her first theater experience by operating a spotlight in a Carroll Arts Center Fun Company performance for middle school actors and stage hands. She learned more about the theater's lighting system each year. And Allgeier's been given more leeway than ever this time around in the first summer show at the Arts Center featuring high school performers.
"They had a hand in every part," said Carroll Arts Center theater facilities coordinator Tabetha White of the teens taking on the summer production.
Winters Mill High School senior Holly Violette is taking on her first lead role as a young 1930s-era actress seeking a career in theater rather than a more prestigious gig on the silver screen. She is active in Winters Mill's theater program and is considering majoring in theater in college.
She got the chance to spend much of her summer with teens her age who share her interest in what became a tight knit cast and crew. She has seven wardrobe changes throughout the production, which should make for a hectic evening.
Violette will be shuffling back and forth from backstage to center stage in front of the lighting designed by Allgeier.
"Whenever I get a chance for a part, I do," Violette said. "It's a good thing to get experience. I'm going to need it in college."
