The campus of Illinois State University in Normal is the epicenter of high school theatre this weekend, as it opens up its facilities as a co-sponsor of the Illinois Theatre Fest, now in its 50th year.
Wheeling High School students perform Surgarcannon in Ride the Cyclone.
More than 4,000 students and teachers will descend on the campus, including teens from Prospect, Wheeling and Saint Viator high schools.
The highly regarded theatre festival features interactive workshops, led by teachers — including Prospect’s Jeremy Morton and Rolling Meadows’ Stephanie Svarz and Caitlyn Walsh — as well as several showcase productions mounted by individual schools and the featured production this year, Newsies.
“It is a legacy of dedicated theatre teachers who dreamed of creating a festival bigger and better than any that came before,” says Allan Kimball, executive director of the festival in his opening letter, “a festival to celebrate the power of theatre in Illinois.”
Wheeling students perform Ballad of JD in Ride the Cyclone.
Prospect’s recent original production, Romeo and Juliet; Fast, Then Furious, was selected as one of the festival’s showcase productions. The show will be performed twice at the festival on Friday, Jan. 9, with both performances already sold out.
Wheeling’s state selected musical, Ride The Cyclone, will be remounted by Wheeling cast and crew and also will be performed on Jan. 9. It is described as deeply moving musical that takes you on a rollercoaster of life, death, and second chances.
The production features two totally different takes on Shakespeare’s most famous love story, both of which are described as funny, chaotic and completely unpredictable.
Joe Kaiser, a senior at Saint Viator, was selected to perform in this year’s all-state production, Newsies. A veteran of Saint Viator’s musicals and plays, Kaiser found the statewide audition process to be highly competitive and drew more than 500 students.
Saint Viator High School senior Joe Kaiser
“The audition process was incredibly intimidating due to the amount of talent across the state of Illinois,” Kaiser said. “The first audition included a song, short dance and acting evaluation, followed by a callback where we learned a new dance combination—on top of newspapers.
“While it was challenging,” he adds, “it showed me how much fun this process would be.”
The theatre festival was created to enrich the education of high school students, by bringing together a diverse group of young people in a creative environment, who share their passion for theatre, and giving them an opportunity to showcase their talents, on a statewide stage.
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