On Nov. 16-18, theatre will be performing their musical, “The Prom.” This musical has a meaningful message behind it showing acceptance, no matter the person.
“The Prom” musical is about a group of actors from Broadway traveling to a small town in Indiana called Edgewater. The actors go there to help a lesbian student that was banned from bringing her girlfriend to the school prom with her.
As the theater group started putting together the musical, it was a tough start, but they were able to finish out strong. Senior Gen Anderson compares what the musical is like from the start, to the last week of practices.
“The show is coming together,” Anderson said. “It was a little rough around the edges in the beginning, but since dress rehearsals are starting it’s going well.”
Being in theater is not as easy as it sounds. Some roles can be completely different from how actors’ personalities actually are. Anderson shares how becoming a character unlike themselves can be difficult..
“I am not anything like my character that I’m playing in the musical, so trying to grasp that; the reins of being someone else, but I’m doing my best,” Anderson said. “Although it is a different character for me, I’ve been able to properly portray what I’m trying to convey for the character. I am proud I was able to do that.”
Senior Megan Ullrich also shares some struggles that she has been able to overcome while being involved in this musical.
“I am still working on remembering to cheat out (make sure to face the audience) and to keep my hair out of my face,” Ullrich said. “And also, keeping my energy up for the whole show. Memorization was also a struggle because some of my monologues are lengthy!”
While they are actors in the musical, they also have to crunch in time to focus on academics. Ullrich said practices can go as late as 6 p.m. and during some of the last practices they have had to go even later. This can be difficult to make time for homework and other outside school activities.
“Keeping up with academics can be hard,” Ullrich said. “And bringing my all. Rehearsals can go ‘till 6, and that can be exhausting.”
Culinary teacher Shelby Muha may not have participated in this musical, but she shares some thoughts on why this plot line can have an impact on some people.
“It is a really great representation of society as a whole and the fact that LGBTQ+ individuals are in a greater world that we live in,” Muha said.
Despite all the ups and downs that come with making this musical, there are way more positives than negatives. Muha mentioned how she was excited to see the musical and that they have been doing a great job.
Ullrich also added how she is very proud of everyone involved in the musical, and how she is so happy to be a part of it.
