On Thursday, September 4, 2025, the Sterling High School theater department held their annual meeting. This meeting informs all students of fall play, speech, spring musical, group interpretation, contest play, and the New York trip.
This year, the meeting opened with the discussion of the fall play, “Clue.” “Clue” is a movie based on six blackmail victims who are invited to a mansion by a man who knows the dark secrets of their past. Each person is given a weapon, and when the lights turn off, one is killed. They have to discover who the murder is, before the police arrive.
Auditions for “Clue” were held on September 8, and the cast list came out shortly after. Sophomore Harper Johnson explains that she “thinks this is a really good cast. The kids in theater are really nice and caring, especially this group.”
The director of the speech team, Tori Duffin, gave a rundown of what the speech team is. Speech is an IHSA event that focuses on the art of public speaking and performance.
Students write speeches in one category, then compete against other schools in tournaments on Saturdays. All students need to come in to perform their speech for Duffin at least once a week.
After speech, Weston Henry expressed the differences for our spring musical this year. Our musical was announced as “Hadestown: Teen Version.”
“Hadestown” is a show based on Greek mythology, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. This show is different from anything we have ever done before, due to the turn table that we will be using.
The turn table is a part of the stage that will spin in a circle while the cast performs. It is often used on Broadway, and is used in “Hadestown” on Broadway.
Lastly, group interpretation and Contest play were discussed. Contest play is an IHSA event, that includes a 30-minute production with costumes and a set.
Contest play often coincides with GI, which is also an IHSA event, as a 30 minute production with no costumes, and blocks that are used to create the set. Our GI was announced as “Peter and the Starcatcher.”
This GI is an origin story of Peter Pan, a young orphaned boy who meets a young starcatcher named Molly. They must protect a trunk of “starstuff” from a greedy pirate.
At the end of the meeting, students could stay longer if they were interested in a trip to New York City with a theater group. Most years, the theater department takes a trip to New York and they enjoy many musicals on Broadway.
The trip is for all students in the music department, not just limited to those in theater. Students can work at the Café to earn money to contribute to the New York trip.
Overall, this meeting was very informative, and leaves us with an outstanding lineup for the ‘25-26 school year!
