This year, the drama club will be performing the show, “Newsies” as their spring musical. Students can still sign up to help with backstage jobs; however, the actors have already been cast.

“We’re always looking for help for backstage stuff. At this point, the people that are going to be on stage are all done and figured out. But we have to build our sets and our costumes and program lights and sound and all that stuff. That’s stuff we can still get help with… we tend to work on some Saturdays, and those are days that we need more people,” drama club adviser Ben Cossitor said. 

The story of “Newsies” is based on real events.

“It’s a retelling of an actual event that happened around the turn of the 20th century,” Cossitor said. “A news boy strike in New York, they were working on the streets trying to sell papers and were getting taken advantage of so they stood up for themselves and it’s kind of an inspiring tale of a successful strike by a bunch of kids.” 

Members of the drama club participate in either the spring musical or have already participated in the fall play. 

“All the kids in the club have to participate either with the fall play or the spring musical,” Cossitor said. “Some of them were in the fall play, and they don’t necessarily have as much time now in the spring, so they’re not necessarily getting involved, but we still will do days where we say ‘we need extra help’ and anyone in the club can come out and participate. By the end, we’ll probably have most everyone having helped out with something.”

Cossitor expresses his worries for the show. 

“This show in particular involves a lot of dance. So we’ve worked into the schedule to have tons of time to rehearse and practice because dance takes a lot of time. Particularly in theater where you have a mix of some people who have a lot of experience with dance but then you also have beginners in the cast. You have to get everyone up to speed, so you need a lot of time to get them there. Between COVID-19 quarantining and the snow season coming up, that’s always a worry. We give ourselves extra time in the schedule. Our hope is that we’ve given ourselves enough,” Cossitor said. 

The drama club has some formal plans and events towards the end of the school year.

“We will do a drama showcase in the spring, kind of like the way we did it in the winter, in December, to show off the work that our drama classes do; they might do a small skit or play. We of course have the Disney trip that we’re taking with the music department. I believe that the Isaacs, which is a competition we used to participate in with our musical, competing against the other high schools in the area. I believe they are going to be occurring this year the way they used to,” Cossitor said.

There are also some less formal plans the club has.

“There might be little things that come up. Like for instance, the club is going to have a little cabaret night where they sing songs, it’s called a Miscast. They’re going to sing songs from shows where they might not have ever been considered for that part. Just a fun thing for the club to do. We might do some other fun nights like improv game nights and things by the end of the year,” Cossitor said. 

“Newsies” will premiere April 21-23 in the auditorium. Student tickets will be sold for $5 in the school store prior to the premiere.