The theater director is stepping away to let students learn how to handle a production.

“It has been a whirlwind. It is not the way I normally do things because I’m always working with the adults who already know everything that’s going on. So it has been a lot to say the least of trying to help students figure out what they need to do when they have obviously been in shows but have not been behind the scenes. I can’t just tell them what to do but like helping them figure out what steps they need to do which is a lot more frustrating on themselves while learning the process,” Ms. Amy Hayes, director, said.

But, the students feel that this production is easy to manage.

 “I feel as if our production is going smoothly. It is very nonchalant in a way and I have really enjoyed it. The experience is moderately strict but mostly flexible. I enjoy it being flexible for other things we have going on,” senior Tucker Pierce said.

Theater brings great bonds and friendships.

 “My friends are the reason I joined this show. They were listening to a song from the show on our way home one day. I had no idea what it was so I watched the entirety of the show at home. I absolutely fell in love with the show and when I heard we were doing it I was ecstatic. I immediately joined,” Pierce said. 

Working individually on skills can be fun, but building skills with others can be even better.

“I think the most rewarding thing is definitely seeing them all as a group. Like the cast and the crew there is a family feel when you do the play and the musical. It is different when they’re all doing it themselves and seeing people coming in over the summer and stepping up to go above and beyond. It is really nice to see students just get up to that level to a level that people wouldn’t expect from them and I think that tells me that we’ve done a good job up to this point of empowering students so they don’t they don’t feel overwhelmed. It is a lot of work and they are very stressed and you know people get anxious,” Ms. Hayes said.

The rewarding feeling that theater brings to students can be inspiring. 

“The best part of doing lights is seeing the final product of what you have made. During rehearsals, you’re always busy programming lights and brainstorming ideas. But during the show, you’re able to sit back and see all the hard work you’ve done come together with the rest of the show,” sophomore Adam Sobeleski said.

Doing more independent work can lead to excelling in life. 

”The fact that it is allowing me to grow in my area and have my own style of acting. Since there is no true voice telling me what to do I can expand and understand how I act,” Pierce said.

The theater program does not fund itself. Students have been finding fun ways to raise money.

“We have an upcoming karaoke fundraiser. It is going to be on Saturday September 7th from 6:00 to 8:00. It is free to attend but $5 if you want to sing, $2 if you want to jump the line and $5 if you want to reserve your song. We’re running it ourselves, the Suds which are open. So order some food, bring chairs and just have a relaxing fun evening. The money is going to our theater fund because it’s very expensive to put on shows. So it gets put into any area we need most but for instance we always need cloth for making our clothes. We are going to be making pink lady jackets for Grease which means we need lots of cloth and lots of paint for our sets,” Ms. Hayes said.