Professional Headshots Taken for the Cast of Les Miserables

The Arrowhead Drama actors got their headshots taken by Abby Tessemier, a college student and aspiring photographer, on Wednesday, December 1st, 2021 at 5 pm. The headshots will be going out in the North Campus Front Foyer display that will be decorated with a Les Miserable theme for the week of the show. The performances for Les Miserables are Feb 2nd through 6th, 2022.

Tessemier is a former Arrowhead student and did headshots for Arrowhead Drama shows while she was at Arrowhead. Tessemier also did the headshots for the 2020 – 2021 Drama shows and is coming back again to do them for Les Miserables.

Maralynn Markano, an English, acting, and advanced speech teacher, drama director, and stage crew advisor at Arrowhead, said, “I love giving former students [the opportunity] especially if they have a keen interest in photography or graphic design or whatever.” Markano said that she loves giving former students something to do to help their portfolios for their futures. 

The headshots aren’t only for the actors though. The production team also had their headshots taken on Wednesday. The current production team includes the director, assistant director, student director, vocal director, costume coordinator, stage manager, and two assistant stage managers. The actors and production team were not required to pay for their headshots. 

There was certain attire that everyone had to wear for their photos. The directors requested nicer attire than t-shirts and sweatshirts. The girls were not allowed to wear low neckline shirts or black shirts. The guys were required to wear button up shirts or colored polo shirts that were not black. 

Markano said that solid colors or subtle patterns are really the best for the girls and that it looks more professional if they are in a collared shirt with buttons for the guys. 

Tessemier set up her equipment while the cast did their last run-throughs of blocking for At The End of the Day  that they had been working on. 

Headshots were being taken one at a time and Annella Maclean, a junior at Arrowhead, volunteered to go first to help Tessemier get everything right. 

Maclean said, “I forgot how to smile.” 

Tessemier had to do multiple headshots for Maclean since Maclean didn’t want to look weird and it was hard to remember how to smile after having to wear a mask last year for the shows. 

After everyone got their headshots taken, Markano gathered everyone to give announcements and do a quick round of Dum, Dum, Dada. It is a rhythm game where everyone has to go at one speed and go through 3 different motions starting simple and progressively getting harder.