On March 23, 24, and 25, the Theater program of RCHS performed Chicago: Teen Edition. The musical was held in the RCHS Auditorium at seven o’clock each night. 

Their performance was based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins and was adapted by David Thompson. At the highschool, Chicago was directed by Erin Allen, art and theater teacher. The music was directed by Miranda Fitzgerald, the band and chorus teacher. 

Junior Ella Schmidt played the roles of Ensemble Member 1 and Harrison. Schmidt has been in theater at RCHS for two years.

“Ms. Allen and Mrs. Fitz were the main brains behind the process. Most of the choreography that we used was from another high school’s production,” said Schmidt. “We also tried to re-use a lot of props from last year’s production of Wizard of Oz.”

Rehearsals for Chicago: Teen Edition were held on Saturday, March 18. Here, performers were able to run through the play and script without an audience, one last time, before the official showings.

“The rehearsals were much less stressful than then shows, however the shows were much more fun for me because the audience really helped bring the show to life and brought more energy to the environment,” said Schmidt. 

Along with getting ready for this performance at the highschool, Schmidt has her own personal routine in preparing to perform. 

“My personal routine was to get ready at home, hair and makeup wise, and then come to the school,” said Schmidt. “Then I got my costume on, ran through the script and checked anything that went wrong on the previous run-through, then I’d get my mic on.”

Sophomore Julia Newhall played a main role in Chicago: The Teen Edition. Julia has been in theater classes since 5th grade. This is her second year in theater at the highschool. 

“We spent almost the entire first 3 quarters of school prepping for the musical. The first month of class was spent learning different types of acting/theater, but after that we’ve been entirely devoted to Chicago,” said Newhall. 

To prepare for the show, Newhall took time to spend time with others. 

“There was less of a personal routine in the end, because getting ready ended up being a group activity. You had anywhere from 3-5 people trying to use the mirrors at once, we were all rushing to get our hair done, and there were always at least 3 people singing. It was honestly really fun, and built up the sense of community that we had,” Said Newhall. 

The Theater department ran into a few issues throughout the shows, but were able to overcome them with the help of fellow students. 

“The second and third night both had issues, because our music director, Mrs. Fitz, wasn’t able to be there. Haedyn Hartless stepped up to run the music and sound cues, so we appreciated him for that,” said Newhall. “We were able to push through the difficulties though, and overall I think all 3 nights were entertaining.”

For the three nights that Theater students performed Chicago: The Teen Edition, 683 tickets were sold in total. 

For the rest of the year, students will be cleaning up backstage and packing up show costumes and props for storage. They will be beginning their playwriting unit soon. Students will be able to write their own short plays, cast their character roles, provide needed set, costuming, music, and props. 

For more information, visit the Rockbridge County High School Website.