Senior Hari Ganesh is an experienced officer of ITS. He has been taking drama since his freshman year and was inducted into the club at the end of his freshman year. A big part of the club’s focus and the officers’ duty is establishing a warm atmosphere for newcomers while refining their dramatic skill at the same time.
“We play improv games and we have a big focus on making the younger students feel like they’re a part of this community here,” Ganesh said. “A large part of what we do is about the personal connection between the two.”
Ganesh recalls that being part of ITS and drama also taught him the heavy responsibilities that come with directorship and the innate perseverance that is required for the position.
Every production you have, there’s going to be some horror story attached to it in terms of how it almost didn’t happen,” Senior Hari Ganesh said. “But that’s a really large part of what we do, that theater happens. And no matter what happens, the show must go on.
Junior Nelson Niu is a veteran of ITS and a teacher assisant for multiple drama periods. He thinks that being a member of the club is very similar to being an officer. The key difference between the two is that most of the contributions depend on the member’s willingness to help more than anything else, whereas officers have obligations they must fulfill.
“There’s not that much difference, to be honest,” Niu said. “I guess there’s not that obligation to actually do stuff for ITS, but you can still help out in a lot of theater related stuff and drama related stuff.”
Even though Niu is aware that helping out is technically optional, he still spends many hours assisting the club and the drama department as a whole by taking part in its productions.
“It’s a huge time commitment. Being part of a show, you spend two hours every day at least,” Niu said. “It takes up a lot of time, and I tend to be exhausted a lot of the time.”
Sophomore Jeremi Kalkowski is new to ITS and has been a member of the group since last spring. He also felt a sense of community from joining the organization. This sense of belonging served to motivate him further in his pursuit of the theater arts.
“ITS is an international organization, and it just [gives] you this feeling where you’re part of something bigger,” Kalkowski said. “You can contribute to theater arts or movie arts in a group that will actually recognize your achievements.”
