Sarah Hall
Senior Wills, or letters, to pass on to underclassmen has become a strong tradition for the LSW theater department. Each year, teacher Brad Rackers takes a step back and leaves the activity to his graduating seniors to pass on the torch to future Titan thespians.
Senior Cadence Mayrand, who was president of the LSW theater club, West Side Stage (WSS), said, “Senior wills are given to underclassmen by seniors, to carry out the legacy year by year.”
There’s a couple different senior wills you can receive like “bffs of theater” and “theater mom”.
Mayrand’s will was called “a dollar”, which is where after every rehearsal, she would ask for a dollar from Rackers, and if the rehearsal had gone well, he would give her one, and if not, he wouldn’t.
“You can carry senior wills from freshman year all the way to your senior year then pass them down,” Mayrand said.
An important will is the “candle speech”, this speech was handed down to Junior Cassidy Knight. On the last show of a mainstage, the whole cast gathers around, and seniors break a leg.
The person who has the “candle speech” at the time starts the before show “break a leg” meeting, by lighting a candle and saying something nice about each grade level. Following that, theater seniors break their legs, which is where seniors pass down advice to underclassmen and say something special about the people in the theater.
