By Kalin Krohe, Panhandle Post
Chadron High School will present "Into the Woods" musical on March 19, 20 and 21.
The Friday and Saturday performances will be at 7 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.
Chadron High School Vocal Music/Theatre Director Wendy Mahr said her students haven't had a live performance since the pandemic began in 2020.
"We're going to get to be the first one, so that's kind of fun," Mahr said. "We hope people will show up, I'm kind of a bit nervous to be honest."
"Into the Woods" is a musical by Stephen Sondheim.
"It's not that old of a show, it's been around since the 80's," Mahr said. "It's four different nursery rhyme stories happening at the same time. Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood all happening together in the same woods. There's giants and a witch. There's all kinds of things that happen...a whole bunch of irony and fun."
Mahr told Panhandle Post it's a difficult theater production to put on.
"I would never do [this] with high school kids just because of the vocal chops it takes, but I have such strong kids this year so I picked it and they're doing awesome," Mahr said. "With cast and crew I say we have 25 people. Because of COVID I wasn't sure what the restrictions were going to be...so I usually have a bigger cast. I have an assistant director that's Jeff Milburn; a wonderful singer....and a choreographer, that's Kat Rischling who was our student. We're on our eighth show together. She started working with me when she was still in high school with my summer drama programs. She's a fabulous choreographer."
Chadron High School students have been working extremely hard for this production.
"The theatrical rule is for every minute you see a production, an hour of rehearsal has occurred," Mahr said. "Because everything is copyrighted, you have seven weeks to prepare. The eighth week you have to be in production because everything that you've copyrighted has to go back to New York. I do auditions before the contract starts so that the kids know what parts they're going to prep for. Then we start the rehearsal process...in our case in Chadron we have to work around sports and all the other wonderful things because our kids are in so much. I use Cardinal Singer rehearsal time, which is before school and then we're the last thing at the end of day...usually at 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. til 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. They work so hard. With Jeff and Kat and I we can run three different rehearsals at the same time. "
Mahr notes that the students in this production are very talented, and some have been accepted into prestigious colleges.
"Chadron is statistically the strangest anomaly and the most wonderful thing at the same time," Mahr said. "We're so small yet...look at our graduation rate based on our stats with normal stuff, our poverty rate, etc. We just defy everything all the time, which is a just a testament to a lot things. We have kids with so much talent in so many ways. It's funny because they don't know that. I think that's one reason that makes it so great. They have no idea that they're really good because they don't have anything to compare it to. In sports you always have a defense, you see another team, in art you don't see the other teams. You don't know what other kids' musicals are like. Part of that is a blessing because they don't really have any ego, which is super great. "
Chadron Senior Lateshia Ngoi has been accepted into the Julliard performing arts schools.
"At this moment in her life she thinks she wants to go into music or theatre, something in the arts for sure," Mahr said. "She's self driven. She's one of those kids that any coach loves. She knew the idea of Julliard. I do think culturally there's a disconnect. She's from Canada. The wait from getting, I think it meant a lot. First of all, it was just a 'shoot the moon', they only take five kids. She says she might as well try. It's pretty darn amazing...that she went through and got in."
Chadron Senior Alexis Convoy got accepted into Princeton University through the QuestBridge Scholarship.
"Both of those girls [Convoy, Ngoi] are well rounded," Mahr said. "They're both academically, extremely strong. They both qualified for State Speech, which is really hard to do. Actually, Alexis won her district division. They are in Cardinal Singers, FBLA and all the things that our kids do. It's just amazing."
Mahr said she's really excited for this musical.
"Usually, I don't have so many seniors," Mahr said. "In Cardinal Singers I have 11 seniors out of 25. It's fun because there isn't a weak link. Like Kennedy Stack, who is a beautiful actress and singer, she's going to Kearney on a softball scholarship but is also auditioning for music."
Tickets for "Into the Woods" are available at the high school office.