Milan High School Theatre Department Bounce Back
Milan high school’s theater department took a huge hit during Covid. Not only were they not able to perform their final week of the spring musical, but they also lost a huge amount of money from not being able to sell tickets. The whole department thought, “oh well, we have next year”, but now that we're back in school we can finally see how much damage COVID made.
When we were clear to go back to school and start theater again, it seemed like the theatre was cursed because of all the inconveniences the department was facing. For example, Mrs.Jeffers was the director for the fall show and made a great reputation throughout the years. Everyone was very excited to begin yet another play but of course, that theatre curse got in the way. Right before the beginning of the school year, Jeffers sent a message letting the group know that she will not be returning the following year which devastated everyone who was looking forward to being back to normal. Dennis Glass, the old assistant director, stepped up and became lead director last minute and took on the responsibility. Thankfully he was a familiar face but losing Mrs.Jeffers still hurt.
Now that the department found the new director, Dennis had to deal with the money lost. Losing money meant that they couldn't get the proper materials to build the set. While putting on the current play, “Clue”, The theatre had to improvise and ask parents to help out and donate stuff for them to use. In the past years, they had the money to be able to pay people to help them out with building and to get all the materials they needed. Now, they're pretty much just hoping they can pull the show off. It’s already hard to see them struggling but what makes it worse is that this show might be their last for Milan. That then makes a whole new set of problems. The theatre department now has to find multiple ways to self-fund itself.
Tuesday, September the 21st, there was a parent meeting to let the students and the parents know about the breaking news. As expected, everyone was disheartened by the news, but on the positive side, now that the parents are aware and can step up and help come up with fundraisers and different ways to raise money.
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