Wauconda High School theater students get creative to put on fall play

WAUCONDA – Wauconda High School will be performing the serio-comedy play “WHS Drama Club Presents: All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" on Nov. 6 and 7.

If the year 2020 was a play, it would be portrayed as a tragedy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, entertainment has become vital for people to get through the monotony of quarantine life, granting people peace of mind for a couple of hours at a time.

One form of entertainment that has suffered significantly during COVID-19 is theater. While television, movies and music can be easily streamed, theater has been almost completely shut down.

The nature of watching a live production seems daunting in the face of a highly contagious disease. Great musicals and plays across the country have been canceled. If the professional shows are shut down, then surely all high school productions would suffer the same fate?

No, Wauconda High School’s theater department has been determined to put on a production this November.

In the face of the odds, the school has worked hard to continue its tradition of performing a fall production for the community.

Typically, the school puts on a fall musical and a spring play, but this year the theater department has decided to start with a play featuring musical elements. Sixty-two students dedicated a lot of time and effort into the play "All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," a comedy that will premiere Nov. 6 and 7 for $10.

Tickets can be purchased at www.waucondahs.seatyourself.biz.

Theater director Scott Metzger searched for a show that encapsulated what people need in this moment.

Student assistant director Margaret Yost said, “This show is definitely relevant to today. The message of this play is that the first things you learn about life are the most important. Sharing, listening skills, kindness, etc. I feel like it is more relevant than ever right now, especially in the midst of such contention. I think that the whole country could benefit from going back to kindergarten and showing some kindness.”

Every person who was involved in the show was prescreened for COVID-19 before entering the school, answering a questionnaire and having their temperature taken, and only being able to work with groups under 25. Students worked outside wearing their masks and social distanced when filming.

From Zoom call recordings to filming on a set, the cast and crew experimented with a video that attempts to capture the live theater experience. They kept the takes with those awkward word inflections or subtle pauses to give authenticity to the work.

The finished product resembles a live theater showing in which any number of mistakes may occur. When discussing the importance of retaining the feeling of live theater in a video, Metzger said, “We would only stop recording if there was an audio problem. ... If an actor messed up on their lines, we would go back [and film again], but they were all great with their lines. … With Zoom, we just went straight out into it. We didn’t stop unless there was a major problem.”

A lot of the tech crew had to learn new skills, such as preparing sound and lights for a film set and editing. With new mics and cameras, the tech crew learned what it was like to work on a movie set.

Parker Whiston, who used an iPad to control the three-camera setup to capture shots said, “I feel like I learned a lot of things from this experience. … I feel like COVID allowed for me to learn new things within the theater program … and allowed our department to discover new ways to create productions.”

Everyone worked to make the impossible possible.

“Their work ethic showed. I am proud of everyone that was in it," Metzger said.

• George Maxwell Guffey, a student at Wauconda High School, wrote this report for the school newspaper. It has been edited for length.