Covid Changes Spotlight Theater Production

Erik Dubbs, News Editor

Each year, the Cardinal Spotlight Theatre puts on a musical presented by the High School students. The musical is usually open to the public, however, due to Covid-19 restrictions, they’re forced to take the stage virtually. 

The Cardinal Spotlight Theatre will be presenting High School Musical this year as their show. “Streaming the musical sounds like such a fun idea. It’s like making a movie,” says McKenna LeVan, cast member of four years. “It’s definitely very different though. Doing scenes without a mask makes it much harder to breathe and put everything into a dance or song.” LeVan continues, “The downside to streaming is that we can’t feed off of the audience’s emotions. It’s what gives us the energy to put in everything we’ve got. But this year we don’t have that, so it’s going to be a lot harder. I definitely would’ve expected things to be different for my Senior year, but it is what it is and we just have to keep moving forward. We’re all in this together.”

“I don’t think there’s honestly that much of a difference other than the struggle of actually getting to musical,” says Autumn Wenner, cast member of 3 years. “With the hybrid schedule, there’s just certain days we’re not in school and we still have to actually go to practice. It’s just difficult to get a ride if you don’t drive.” Wenner continues, “We do as much as we can to follow Covid-19 restrictions. We socially distance as much as we can, we wear our masks at all times. We’re very careful because our goal is to perform in the end, we don’t want the performance to be canceled.” In regards to the performance, Wenner shares her perspective, “We’re still trying to figure out the different ways we can perform. Whether it be livestreamed, videotaped, maybe a partial audience, I don’t know. It just sucks that we can’t perform live with a full audience. Whatever we end up doing, the show will be a blast. I think that High School Musical is very kid-friendly. I know that the kids our age grew up with the movie so I think everyone will really like what we end up doing.” 

The Cardinal Spotlight Theatre will be presenting High School Musical in Mid-March.