2023-24 CMHS Theater Wrap-Up

Hey CM! As we wrap up the school year, the CMHS drama department celebrates 2 fantastic shows and a wonderful year of theater related activities. They put on The Play that Goes Wrong, Legally Blonde, took a trip to TheatreFest, and now wish to celebrate the seniors who took their final bows as highschoolers. 

Our fall play was The Play that Goes Wrong, a comedic take on a murder mystery that goes, as you can guess, terribly wrong. During the making of this production, our crew worked tirelessly to make sure everything worked how it was supposed to. Set pieces fell, lights and mics “malfunctioned,” and there may have been a few real mishaps in there, too. For this play a new crew was introduced: Mechanical “Mech” Crew. Sophomore Abby Saboff had the honors of leading this crew in dropping all the set pieces and figuring out how industrial remote controlled magnets worked. She says, “Mech was a new experience for everyone, including the directors. It had a lot of issues along the way, most of which were fixed by the end of the show. The crew was brought together through these rough patches and it ultimately ended well.” Emphasis on most, but nobody noticed! As Mr. Kalker was a tech director for the play, here’s what he had to say, “This show was one of my favorites to produce. It offered a lot of new challenges for all of our crews. Turns out that making something break predictably and repeatedly is really tricky, but we pulled it off. The actors in this show were phenomenal, it was definitely the funniest show we have done in my tenure. Overall the show was a great success and a lot of fun to create.” Congratulations CM drama club members for putting on a fantastically hilarious show!
As spring approached, so did musical season! On an even more grand scale than the play, our students put on Legally Blonde the Musical! This was an incredible final performance of the year! Ellie Fiorino starred as Elle Woods and when asked about her thoughts on the musical and drama club, here is what she said, “Elle Woods says it best, “Here you’ll become what you’re supposed to be.” That is what Civic Memorial Drama Club feels like. A place where we are all supposed to be. I wouldn’t change these kind, talented, and loving individuals for the world.” This musical showed a more mature side to the drama club that Seussical the Musical, last year’s show, was not able to convey. This show made the crews very involved with the show and cast. There were around 30 scene changes which our stage crew managed after plenty of practice, quick costume and wig changes that our costumers and wig crew handled with ease, and a live dog that our props crew took turns taking care of behind the scenes. Mrs. Cahalin, the director of the musical, says this about the show, “It was so fulfilling to produce Legally Blonde the Musical with the cast, crew, and creative team. This production was fun, contained a wonderful message, and was written very well. Putting an entire musical production together can seem overwhelming at times, but it’s always worth it at the end of the process. Not only do we create a good product, but we create memories that we will remember for a lifetime.” Legally Blonde the Musical was a great experience and challenge for our wonderful drama club who brought each and every character and set piece to life!

Our drama club also took a trip to U of I to participate in and observe TheatreFest. This is a theater based event that students participate in by bringing their shows to get adjudicated (or professionally judged), compete with other students from different schools, and watch others perform their shows. I talked with Mrs. Neilson about the event and how our school participated. Here’s what she had to say: 

1) How did OUR school participate? – “We attended the event and allowed students to tailor their own experience; some students competed in Tech Olympics.”

2) How did other schools participate (specifically the ones that did more than us) –  “Some schools brought productions to show”

3) How will future CM participation be different? (taking shows, competitions, etc). – “I believe we will compete in Tech Olympics again, and I am planning to submit our Fall Production for review- fingers crossed we get chosen!”

While this was a great experience for us, it will be even better next year!

Every year students have the ability to get inducted or get their induction status updated as a Thespian, highly esteemed theater technician, or cast member. This year, we will be congratulating students on May 3rd in the main gym at 6:00pm.

The drama club wishes to celebrate the seniors and wish them the best with wherever life takes them to the following students:

Ethan Bruhn

Reid Buffington

Haley Janssen

Josh McCune

Reagan Ottwell

Honorable mention: Jacob Leifer

Congratulations CMHS drama department on a fantastic year! Be sure to stay tuned to see what the future shows will be!