Stepping out onto the stage, theatre students get ready to perform their children’s shows. Looking into the audience, they see the elementary students smiling at them, giving them the confidence to perform for their shows.     

Last year the theatre had their children’s shows online and fall shows and the musical in person because of COVID, however this year children shows and fall shows are both in person. There are lots of precautions that the theater department is taking to make sure that the shows can run smoothly and keep everyone safe.   

“Childrens shows were different from last year since this year they were in person,” senior McKenna Couch said. “ It was really great to be able to have all the fun aspects of childrens shows like touring.”

Children Shows were performed on November 16 through November 17 at the elementary schools and on November 18 to 19, where students in theatre went to elementary schools to perform shows made towards elementary age students. Some of the childrens shows that were performed this year were Happily Ever After, Alice in Wonderland, The Great Cross-Country Race, Once Upon a Broomstick, The Monsters Under the Bed, and lots of others .  

“I was the assistant director for “Charlotte’s Web” this year and it was such an amazing experience to see everyone perform in-person again,” junior Lainey Killian said. “From the first audition to the final show, I got to know so many wonderful members of the cast. The actors got to physically act/react to one another, both onstage and off, which led to some awesome friendships and incredible performances.” The theatre children shows senior directors this year were Aussie Lura, Erin Everette, Zoe Bouck, Lindsay Dahl, Arianna Ritze, McKenna Couch, Kaitlyn Johnson, Joshua Nielsen, and Chris Thompson. Every year for children shows, there are senior directors who decide everything about the show that they direct. 

“My favorite thing about performing children shows this year was that I made new friends,” sophomore Amelia Cook said. “And it was fun to tour at schools.”

All the years before last year, children shows have been performed normally where the students in person perform the children shows. Last year, they had to be performed differently because of Covid-19.     

“Last year fall shows and children’s shows were both virtual due to COVID-19 quarantine,” Killian said. “But now that we are back in person, we got to perform onstage and tour performances at elementary schools. We are so thankful to have that real life experience again.”

Students spend a lot of time preparing for all of their performances and COVID has made it harder for casts to rehearse. The theater students prepare for the children’s shows by having rehearsals with their senior directors, the shows were fully directed by seniors, they did everything including planning the props, costumes, and blocking. 

“Since this year we got to be back in person we thankfully didn’t have to alter much due to covid,” Couch said. “The only adjustment we really had to make was masks, which wasn’t too big of a hassle. I’m really happy this year had a lot more normalcy than last.”

The childrens shows let the students in the elementary schools receive a chance to watch a show that was specifically made for their age group. From the costumes to the words in the performances, everything was designed specifically to grab the attention of elementary aged students.   

“I always look forward to children shows because we get to perform at elementary and middle school’s for younger kids,” Killian said. “Their reactions to the fantastical stories are so sweet and hilarious. I also look forward to fall shows because the directors work really hard and you get to act in major stories.”