After spending a Friday evening at Pentacle Theatre, one fact rang clear: this team is a family. In some cases, literally.

"We don't see [our family members] if we don't include them sometimes," Frank Fullerton, guitarist, said.

He speaks from personal experience. His wife Lorraine Fullerton is costumer of the current play, who began her work in January for a cast of 35 characters.

There's no doubt that stage production is a multi-faceted endeavor that usually requires of its cast and crew a grueling set of work hours. For those involved in community theater, most of the effort is volunteer.

While the musicians and possibly the director may receive a stipend for their work, the remaining members put in the hours just for the experience and love of the stage.

"I really wanted to be in it," said Kelli Swanson Jaecks, who played "Mayzie La Bird."

"Seussical: The Musical," which she described as "vocally demanding," required a solo from her. Jaecks, who has participated in four other Pentacle shows, said she took two months of singing lessons before her November audition.

One consensus among the actors about the preparation process was that they each created a whole back story for their character.

This level of preparation, which after casting includes multiple rehearsals for the cast and crew, extends the already full-time work and school schedules held by most of the participants.

On the day of a performance, the play may consume an entire afternoon or evening for those involved.

According to stage manager Kathi Helwig, call time is an hour and a half before a show begins.

"They have to get here early enough," she said.

Watching the band rehearse and the cast prepare for their 7:30 p.m. performance, it's clear the pre-show time is used in its entirety.

For this cast, mic checks begin at 6:30 with vocal warm-ups following at 7 p.m.

In the dressing room, the cast sits or stands under bright lighting, carefully watching their reflections in the mirrors as their characters come to life one stroke at a time.

"We all do our own makeup," Susan Needles, who played Mrs. Mayor, said while applying sparkly pink lashes.

Among the supply of wigs and striped tights in the room was scads of makeup: eyeliner and eyeshadow in a rainbow of colors matched only in intensity by the selection of face paints.

Children's Educational Theatre did prototype make-up for the six youngest cast members, but the rest was conceived solely by Pentacle members.

The smallest of the cast, first-grader David Little, who played Max the dog, had his nose applied by thirteen-year-old Joseph Allen, who played Jojo the Thinker.

Of the large cast, 17 of them are high-school-aged and younger, not including three crew members.

"This is probably the most kids we've had in a play," Jaecks said. "This takes the cake."

Little and his older brother Sam form one of a plethora of family member pairs who are part of the cast. Fifth-graders Sophie and Evan Shely played "Who's" and circus performers in the show, while father and daughter Ross and Mariah White, along with the Helwigs and Allens, rounded out the genetically connected cast.

Just as performance-night preparation meant that the cast had to take on multiple roles, many of them participated in constructing the set as well.

An array of colorful props (some decorated with duct tape) were set up against the walls or sitting on shelves ready for easy access once the show began.

"Everything has been 'Seussified'," Helwig said, pointing to a red-and-white-striped water bottle which the Cat in the Hat used to simulate tears, spraying the audience with water.

The score had to be altered, too. Originally requiring an 18-instrument band, Orchestral Director Jungling, who conducted using head movements because she also played piano, whittled down the score to fit with five instruments: two pianos, guitar, drums and bass.

"They usually get a rest between guitar parts," Fullerton said. When the guitar work was rearranged to fit their shorter set, it meant he had to play a continuous piece.

When the lights went up and the play began, there was one role which required that same, seemingly continuous amount of work.

The narrator of the musical is The Cat in the Hat, played at Pentacle by Slade Thackery.

While "Seussical" demands acting, singing, and dancing of all of its characters, The Cat in the Hat's role requires even more.

"It's very acrobatic - lots of physical stuff," Thackery said.

While cartwheels, jumps, and other cat-like moves were required, it's the entire performance aspect he favored.

"I like actually doing the show, taking the audience into 'Seussical,' Thackery said. "This is not a great world right now, so the play is..."

Searching for the right word out, Jeffrey D. Witt, who played Horton the Elephant, interjected with "escapism."

With sold-out shows and an additional performance added, the audience was certainly taken out of our world and into "Seussical," just as Thackery wished, even if only for a couple of hours.