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The unsung and unseen heroes of ‘Goodnight Moon’
Mercedes Perez, Rakeem Lawrence, Susannah McLeod and Marco Robinson in ‘Goodnight Moon.’ Photo by Adams Viscom
Originally published in 2020. Updated in 2025 for the 2025/26 engagement.
There’s an entire team behind the curtain who have helped make the show magic for more than 40,000
With 229 performances under their collective belt and more than 40,053 students and families reached, the cast and crew of DCPA Education’s 2020 Theatre for Young Audiences production overshot the moon, engaging 53 percent more audience members than in 2019. Goodnight Moon, returning Oct 24, 2025-Jan 25, 2026, has an integral place in DCPA Education history, which the team hopes to repeat.
Stage Managers Rachel Ducat and Rick Mireles are two of the unseen heroes of ‘Goodnight Moon.’
The success of Goodnight Moon only happened thanks to many unseen and unsung heroes: The designers and crew who helped the actors look and sound amazing day after day. While Bunny prepared for bed, there was an entire ecosystem behind the curtain perfectly timing and calling light and sound cues, setting props and assisting with numerous costume changes.
On a typical show day, the crew filed in an hour and a half before curtain. The group included two dressers, two deck members, the light-board operator, an electrician and two sound-board operators who alternated as sound engineer and mic manager. Stage Manager Rachel Ducat and Assistant Stage Manager Rick Mireles oversaw them all.
During the time leading up to the performance, the crew was setting the stage. They tested all the moving pieces and made sure nothing got caught in the gears. They re-set all props and set pieces for the top of the show. Meanwhile, the dressers ensured the laundry was complete, the costumes were steamed and the vests were frozen. Yes, frozen vests, which provided as much comfort as possible in the thick mascot-like costumes that were very hot for the actors who wore them.
The last thing the crew did before handing the house over to the House Manager was conduct a blackout check. They turned off all the lights in the house and rolled into the first light cue. The house lights came up, as well as some lights on stage. Then they ran through the first sound cue and turned on the house music. Just moments before opening the doors for the audience, Mireles reset all the clocks on the set to say to 6:30, as is called for by the story.
After all audience members were seated, Ducat checked in with everyone over her headset. Mireles checked that the actors were in place and, when prompted, signaled for Bunny to emerge onto stage. “Then,” Mireles said, “the 55-minute madness begins.”
That madness included numerous costume changes, dozens of different props, controlling several puppets throughout the show and ensuring that all movable set pieces functioned at the right times.
Mercedes Perez as Old Lady Bunny in ‘Goodnight Moon.’ Photo by Adams Viscom.
The first costume change occured when Old Lady Bunny transformed into Cat. Right when actor Mercedes Perez came off stage as Old Lady Bunny, she handed off her oversized book of Runaway Bunny and plastic cup to Mireles, who set them on the props table. The first dresser assisted in taking off the Old Lady Bunny costume. In order to successfully change into the next costume and be in the right place for her next entrance, Perez ran around the back of the theatre to a second quick-change location, accompanied by Mireles and the mic manager. Perez then met a second dresser who assisted in putting on her Cat costume.
During this entire quick-change, Mireles prepped her next two props. The mic manager ensureed the mics were dry and changed batteries as needed. Once everyone was ready, Mireles alerted Ducat, who then cued the music for the Cat/Dog entrance.
This was just one of 19 quick changes three actors pulled off throughout this show.
“To hear that guttural laugh from a child – that true joy – is priceless.” – Rick Mireles
The routine evolved after more than 150 performances, Mireles said, sometimes in entertaining ways. For example, actor Marco Robinson wore blue light-up shoes as the Tooth Fairy, but his shoes got worn down over the six month run. Sometimes before entering through the window, Robinson accidentally turned off his light-up shoes with his ankle. To keep that from happening, Mireles ended up laying on a crawler underneath the window and rolled into place and turned the shoes back on before Robinson’s entrance, so that they wouldn’t turn off early.
Most of the other changes were minor. Quick changes became quicker after so much practice, so actors and crew got more time between changes. No matter how good they got at it, Mireles’ goal was to make every show was fresh as the first.
“Though wwe did the show a bunch of times, every day was that audience’s first time,” Mireles said. “We wanted to give the same performance we gave our first audience.”
Once the performance endsed Mireles monitored the audience as they departed. He gave the students and families ample time to take pictures of the stage but once the doors closed, the crew immediately began to re-set the stage for the next performance. They had 20 minutes to make the bed, set the stuffed animals back on the shelf, vacuum the stage, re-set the props and fix anything that might have broken.
After the re-set was complete and the house opened for the second performance of the day, the cast and crew got ready to do it all over again. “We did the show twice a day, Tuesday through Sunday,” Mireles said. On some days, even three three times.
“The best part of the whole experience was the audience,” Mireles said. “To hear that guttural laugh from a child – that true joy – was priceless.”
And now, they get to do it all over again with second engagement of this childhood favorite.
Photo gallery: Goodnight Moon
The cast and creative team behind ‘Goodnight Moon.’ Photo by John Moore.
[av_gallery ids='33826,34941,33835,34940,34939,33836,34938,34937,34936,33829,33834,34935,33831,34934,33830,33833' style='thumbnails' preview_size='portfolio' crop_big_preview_thumbnail='avia-gallery-big-crop-thumb' thumb_size='portfolio' columns='4' imagelink='lightbox' lazyload='avia_lazyload' av_uid='av-nj3ybw' custom_class='' admin_preview_bg=''] Photos by Adams VisCom and John Moore
Goodnight Moon: Ticket information
- Book, music and lyrics by Chad Henry, adapted from the book by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
- Oct 24, 2025-Jan 25, 2026
- Randy Weeks Conservatory Theatre
- Tailored for pre-kindergarten through second-grade audiences
- Tickets: Call 303-839-4100 or
2020 Goodnight Moon: Cast
- Bunny: Rakeem Lawrence
- Dog/Tooth Fairy/Bear: Marco Robinson
- Mouse/Cow/Bear: Susannah McLeod
- Old Lady/Dish/Bear: Mercedes Perez
- Understudies: Maggie Tisdale and Sean Scrutchins
2020 Goodnight Moon: Creatives
- Adapted by: Chad Henry
- Director: Allison Watrous
- Scenic Designer: Lisa Orzolek
- Costume Designer: Kevin Copenhaver
- Lighting Designer: Charles MacLeod
- Sound Designer: Jason Ducat
- Casting and Choreography: Grady Soapes
- Music Direction: Robyn Yamada
- Stage Manager: Rachel Ducat
- Assistant Stage Manager: Rick Mireles
Video bonus: Director Allison Watrous and Actor Rakeem Lawrence
Video by DCPA Video Producer David Lenk and Senior Arts Journalist John Moore.
