The opening night of Tegenn Jeffery’s “Backstage at the Harmon” was going to be a hit. After months of hard work from the Academy for the Performing Arts (APA) Actor’s Repertory class and their director, it finally paid off in a successful opening night. 

Written by Slick Magazine’s very own editor-in-chief, Tegenn Jeffery, the play, “Backstage at the Harmon” follows the cast and crew throughout a chaotic opening night of a Broadway play called “What Killed the Cat.” To top it all off, a member of the cast mysteriously dies just minutes before places. The 1950s-era play was completely student-written and run, except by the director Sharie Nitkin. 

As previously mentioned, the play was written entirely by a student. “It started off as a 23-page one-act with no stage direction,” said Jeffery. She spent over a year writing and re-writing the script to get it where it is today. “It used to be more abstract, but it…got more grounded the longer it went on.” 

It’s common for writers to “write what they know” and take inspiration from things present in a writer’s life. The influences in “Harmon” are very notable and specific, whether it’s a film or the characteristics of the people around the writer. “One of my favorite films is Asteroid City, and in it, they have these parts that are backstage, and they all take place in black and white,” said Jeffery. “So I asked what if I did Asteroid City and all the black and white scenes were the whole movie? And it was a play?”

Regarding people who inspired the entertaining cast of characters, she said, “It would be difficult to point to specific people in my life…I will say that there were definitely archetypes. Like one of the characters is based on James Dean… two of the characters are based on me.” 

“But I really don’t think that there’s a direct correlation to anyone. It’s more of just…people you know [and] how they would react to things,” she explained. “It’s not a specific through-line of ‘oh, McKay [the fictional writer in “Backstage at the Harmon”] is based off of this person, I can say ‘oh, McKay’s reactions to the plot are very similar to how I would react to the plot, or how, you know, my friend would react to this for other characters.” 

“All of the good parts of the characters are based on my brother. You can put that in.”

For a play like this, it would be impossible not to have the ensemble of dynamic characters that Jeffery wrote. Every character in the play has a very specific role, and without even one of them, it would be an impossible gap to fill.

“[Vaughn is] the stage manager at the Harmon Theater, so he’s constantly going around…he’s basically telling everyone what to do…He’s not the boss, but he’s basically telling everyone what to do,” said Harrison Hartin, a senior at Huntington Beach High School who plays Vaugn Parker. “He’s making sure all the props are good, the set looks good, he’s making sure that everyone’s ready for the show.” 

Even though “Harmon” is a high school play for now, Jeffery has big dreams for the future of this story. “Ideally, I want to turn it into a movie,” she said. “ I already have it set up in my head; I know what it would look like. Obviously, I recognize that that’s quite the pipe dream…but I think it would be really fun to turn it into a film.” 

A student-written full-length play run by a student-run cast is a first in APA’s history, and being a part of something like this is a first for almost everybody involved. “It is very intimidating,” said Hartin, “but I think it’s a very cool and..unique experience… There’s no previous bar; you’re setting the bar.”

“I’d love to have it produced again as I get older,” said Jeffery in regards to the future of the play. “I think it would be really nice to watch that happen and…watch it grow into something completely removed from what it once was.”

On Tuesday night, the opening night of “Backstage at the Harmon” took over APA’s studio theater, with students performing to a nearly sold-out audience. If you missed it, don’t worry! There’s still one more show on Thursday. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at hbapawear.org/accesories.