The OLSH Theater department is in for an exciting new year of productions!

Starting off with the Fall Play and ending with the spring musical, the theater kids are full steam ahead with preparations for this year’s performances. I interviewed Ms. Manuel, who is the OLSH theater director, and a couple of students who participate in OLSH theater productions to hear what their thoughts are for the 2021-2022 theater season. 

Multiple students join the OLSH Theater not only for their productions, but also for the friendly, positive atmosphere that is present. I spoke with Senior Katie Luxbacher and Junior Clare Mulvay to ask them why they love doing the play. Clare stated that she has a lot of fun doing the play. Katie explained to me that she does the OLSH theater productions because she loves the feeling of being on stage and putting on a show. They both said that their favorite part of the play is the friendly family-like atmosphere that Ms. Manuel provides.

For the start of the Fall play, multiple preparations have been put in place to kick off the start of the 2021-2022 theater season. I asked Ms. Manuel how she went about preparing for the Fall play and she responded, “The production team is doing everything they can to accommodate every student’s schedule; opening themselves up to working around different conflicts and quarantining issues.”

During the auditions, each student is given a small script that was taken out of the play to read, which she called this “cold reading”. This allows her to pick out students’ strengths and weaknesses and choose a script that would be best for them.

The spring musical is the one musical that takes the most dedication and time to produce the best results. Ms. Manuel explained that they will be starting early for the spring musical this year. Unfortunately, she would not give any hints for what the spring musical is going to be this year, but she is planning on announcing it sometime in October.

Ms. Manuel also stated that she is hoping to involve the local elementary/ middle schoolers in some way. This year they will be celebrating this spring musical as their 25th Spring Musical and Ms. Manuel hopes that the OLSH family is excited about celebrating.

When asked what she think this year’s school musical is, Katie Luxbacher responded with The Sound of Music. She explained her theory that the pattern of the last spring musicals follows the order of the posters in the hall of the auditorium. We’ll see if she’s right!

Overall, the OLSH theater kids and Ms. Manuel are hoping for a good and exciting year of performances. Starting with the Fall play and ending with the 25th performance of the Spring Musical, this 2021-2022 theater season is going to be full of excitement and entertainment.

The tentative dates for the Fall Play are October 22nd, 23rd, 24th. Tickets will be sold in advance beginning on October 11th, and will also be sold at the door. The cost is $10 for adults & $5 for students, and concessions will be available.

Break a leg in your upcoming season, OLSH Theatre department!