STORY UPDATE: The new dates for the play have been set. There will be two performances of Fools. The shows will be 7 p.m. Friday, April 9 and 2 p.m. Saturday, April 10.
By Gaige Winchester
“Their dedication is unbelievable … because they get out of school at 3:30 and they’d be here until 9:30 at night,” social studies teacher Mr. Brad Himes said.
He didn’t say this about any sports team or even people getting tutored, but about theatre students performing each school year in the play.
This year has been crazier than any we’ve seen in a long time, and the play being put on by the theatre students has been no different.
At first, the performance of Fools was supposed to be in November. Covid then dictated they push it back to December.
A schoolwide quarantine from a few days before Thanksgiving until Christmas break then happened, and the play had to be pushed back from December. The next set date was February, but director Mrs. Dawn Raleigh got quarantined. They then went on to plan for the dates of March 11-13.
Recently, a quarantine of all theatre students has made that date void.
This brought up the question of if we would even have a play this school year. Raleigh said that we will have a play this year. She will sit down with principal Mr. Chris Conley after school on Tuesday (March 16) to figure out the next plan.
Normally, the class produces two plays each year.
There’s such an exorbitant amount of effort and time that goes into producing the plays.
“Most do not fathom the amount of time the cast, crew, and I spend outside of school hours when we are rehearsing and planning for a show,” Raleigh said. “It can be insane.”
This type of perseverance is what keeps the program going during a school year like this one.
Although nothing has been certain since Covid struck, things are starting to look up. There are plans for a play, a prom, and a spring sports season during the fourth quarter of school.
