Every year, the St. Charles High School theater department performs a play or musical for each season of the school year. Last year they had done “Almost, Maine,” “Annie Jr.” and “Emperor’s New Clothes.” There were, of course, bumps in the road for both the cast and crew members for these showings. COVID had been the main dictator of how smoothly the school year went for everyone, and it was not uncommon for students and school staff to be quarantined multiple times within a single semester. However with COVID restrictions very slowly winding down, changes and accommodations have been made for not only the school, but also for the plays and musicals. 

One major change that has greatly impacted theater was the influx of in-person students. This has led to many freshmen joining both the cast and crew members for theater.

“We had a whole bunch of freshmen come in [this year],” said cast member Piper Ruebling. “We were worried last year that we wouldn’t have enough people, but we got so many freshmen and there are so many people excited about theater this year and it’s amazing.”

According to some cast and crew members, this new abundance of students has greatly helped out the theater department. Theater is now able to do bigger and more technical plays and musicals with much more ease than last year. Because of this, many cast and crew members are very excited to help perform and take part in the making of the upcoming play, “Alice in Wonderland.” However, some of the members are concerned about the possible COVID issues.

“I think this year is harder because although we’re all in-person technically, it’s a lot more people to track,” said cast member Dean Chapman.

Even so, excitement for “Alice in Wonderland” has still not dulled amongst the theater department. This is especially true with the matinees performed every year due to it being unavailable last year.

“Since we’re doing a really big play, we might be able to do matinees for elementary school kids [again] during the day,” said crew member Chase Nagel.

The diverse costume and makeup choices for “Alice in Wonderland” also seems to be popular amongst the cast and crew. The many technicalities of both are very important for the play’s running since the story is known for its colorful cast of characters. 

“Saubers has mentioned that this is a very technical play,” said Chapman. “I feel like it’s definitely going to be one of those shows where effort in all corners of the theater department is going to have to be made to make it work.”

The St. Charles High theater department has had a rough year dealing with COVID troubles. Their perseverance shows through with this ambitious upcoming play, and even with how lively the cast and crew has become. “Alice in Wonderland” will be running on November 19 and November 20.