As the school year progresses, the Theater Department is preparing their spring musical Chicago for their 2023 performance.

As the theater program at RCHS is still relatively new, art teacher Mrs. Erin Allen, and Music Director Mrs. Miranda Fitzgerald, are still reshaping the class. 

“It’s an interesting process cause we don’t have anything to base it off of,” said Fitz. “Theater hasn’t really been here for the last 5-6 years, probably more than that. We’re building from scratch,”said Fitz. 

 With their premiere performance being Wizard of Oz, they wanted to open their second year with a project that could more thoroughly engage the students and give them an environment to grow and learn.

“What I wanted to do at the very start was have something that was accessible for students who didn’t have any prior experience,” said Allen.

13 students returned this year.

 “We wanted it to be very communal, like a family, like band is. We do have a great number of students who repeated the class… and we have a great huge new group of students who came in… they have sort of brought us up another notch because that enthusiasm from last year has fed into that enthusiasm this year,” Allen said. “Lots of strong personalities, lots of strong desire to put on a show and to learn about theater and do your best and be a performer,”

Allen continued, “Wizard of Oz is very fairy tale, very soft, while Chicago is very real and very hard. With Wizard of Oz … there’s some sadness there but they’re undertones of sadness and murder. There’s so much color and brightness going on. Whereas Chicago is like a dark humor approach because it is super humorous,” said Allen. “The two stars of Chicago, which are Velma and Roxy, they want to be stars. Their whole thing about being in jail and doing all this is to…have an act and to be famous,”

Allen described their choice for Chicago.

 “Short-term Chicago goal is that this year we are going to up the ante on the ability of the performers…This script is more challenging because it incorporates music fully…so there’s more music within the lines…The amount of numbers they get to perform is much bigger. And there are more people involved with those numbers, who are actually singing and dancing and doing whatever. So we turned up the volume a little bit, what we expect from our performers,”

Sophomore Julia Newhall, cast as Roxy in the upcoming musical, has just started her second year in the theater program. 

“I just want to produce a really good musical,” said Newhall.

Senior Grace Fure, cast as Velma in Chicago, is also a returner from last year. 

“[It is] Very nerve-racking but also exciting at the same time. A lot of energy and adrenaline. It was also fun. Just to work on developing the character and being immersed in the role of Velma …just getting better at acting and analyzing the script,” said Fure. 

The new theater program has inspired students and is only growing at RCHS. 

“The goal for our students is to find their place, where they can be most successful on stage… that all the kids find their voice somewhere within what we do, whether it’s in the dancing or the singing or the acting or the painting,” said Fitz.