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Musicals Children's Plays Spring Plays Summer Children's Theatre |
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The Drama Program, begun in 1959, encompasses curricular classes and co-curricular plays. Five courses make up the curricular program: Acting, Theatre Production, Advanced Theatre Performance, Technical Theatre I and Technical Theatre II. |
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Drama classes include much more than learning in the classrooms. For credit in these classes, students do a variety of activities. For example, one year a senior student adapted an Agatha Christie story to play form. The students then created a complete production and toured the play to a local elementary school to create a workshop in the Drama area. Each year, the Theatre Production class teams up with the technical theatre class to produce a play in the spring. Nearly every year since 1979 Advanced Theatre Performance classes have taken the literary magazine, Edda, and created a complete showcase production. Technical Theatre classes help construct sets for the various plays. Summer Theatre class mounts a full-scale production each year with sometimes as many as 100 students on cast and crew.
All H-F students are invited to participate in the co-curricular plays which annually include a Musical, a Children's Play, a Spring Play, and Summer Children's Theatre. These plays are presented in the Mall Auditorium which seats 756 individuals with a fully equipped theatre and backstage area.
Casts and production crews are drawn largely from Acting, Theatre Production, Advanced Theatre Performance, and Technical Theatre Classes. Tryouts are held before every play and students may sign up to work on various crews.
Over the course of a year, around 365 students are involved in these plays. Almost all rehearsals for casts or plays are held after school and in the evenings. While some set construction and technical work is done in Technical Theatre classes, much is done after the school day and on weekends.
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Full scale Musical Theatre production began at H-F when the theatre was constructed in 1968. Since that time H-F has produced one major musical each year (and in 1971 a mini musical . . . Charley Brown). Cast sizes have varied from 76 in 1976 to 26 in 1986 depending on the requirements of the production. On an average, around 150 students are involved in the Musical including cast, crew, and orchestra. In addition to drawing students from Drama classes, students also come from Vocal Music and Broadcasting classes. The Orchestra is drawn largely from Instrumental Music classes. Until 1985, the Musicals were performed in the spring; the Musical has now moved to the fall to provide more performance opportunities for more students by avoiding simultaneous rehearsals with Competitive Drama. The 2005-06 musical will be held January 12th, 13th, and 14th, due to the renovation of the auditorium this fall. |
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Pictured above is a scene from Little Me, presented during the 1995/96 school year. |
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Annually, around 40 students are involved in the cast and crew of Children's Play. Tryouts are held in August and the play is presented in early fall. The Children's Play has also traveled to area schools for special performances. Our Children’s Theatre Program has received much recognition from the Illinois Theatre Association. The 2004-2005 Children’s Play Production of Still Life With Iris was selected to perform as a main stage production at the 2004-2005 Illinois High School Theatre Festival. This was a great honor, since very few productions in the state are invited to perform at the festival. Similarly, the 2005-2006 Children’s
Play Production of The Falling Moon was invited to
perform at the Illinois Theatre Association’s children’s
play conference in November of 2005. |
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Additionally, in the 1984/85 school year the play Jack and the Beanstalk was selected to perform at the Midwestern Children's Theatre Festival.
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Pictured right is a scene from The Ransome of Red Chief, performed during the 1995/96 school year. |
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At the end of March, tryouts are held for the Spring Play. The play itself is performed in May. On an average, 75 students are involved in the cast and crew of this play. In the 1983/84 school year, Hayfever was selected under the auspices of the Illinois High School Theatre Festival to perform at the Krannert Center, University of Illinois, to show H-F excellence. |
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Pictured left is a scene from Playing Doctor. performed during the 1994/95 school year. |
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Summer Children's Theatre brings together high school students and children from the neighboring communities to put on a production for the community. Offered in conjunction with Homewood-Flossmoor High School Summer School, children who reside in the district may sign up to participate in the production. These children not only become characters in the play, but they also participate on crews for the play. Performances are given at the end of summer school. In 2004, the Illinois Theatre Association granted H-F's Summer Theatre Program the "Outstanding Contribution to Children's Theatre Award." This award is granted to only one children's theatre program in the state each year, thus recognizing H-F's excellence in Children's Theatre. |
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Above is a scene from The Little Mermaid, presented during the summer of 1993. |
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Last Revised 10/23/00.
