Community Pulse: Celebrating a successful theater program

Well, it is that time again. For the second time in less than a year, I get to extoll the virtues of another team surpassing expectations and competing for recognition as being the best in the State of Illinois from Coal City High School. This time, instead of one of the athletic department’s teams, it is the Coal City Theater Department. Over the past 10 years, this group has competed mightily with other schools within Illinois – it has produced 21 nominations for students who participated in the school productions from the Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards (IHSMTA) and last year’s Director of the musical “Anastasia,” Jack Micetich was awarded Best Director for a Musical due to the continued steadfast work of his production team.

However, earlier this month, the entire cast was recognized by the 2024 annual High School Theatre Festival hosted at Illinois State University as being the best in class for its production of “Alice By Heart.” Being acknowledged for this success is a bit different than sports teams that compete for state titles. This production was adjudicated by the Festival’s staff to determine across all of Illinois, during this past fall, which shows are to be produced for the 4,200 attendees representing 170 high schools across Illinois in the oldest statewide theater festival produced in the nation. Coal City’s “Alice By Heart” was selected; it was one of four musicals invited to produce their show at the festival and one of only two to play within the largest venue that produced its musical to an audience of over 700 students who took up every chair available within the performance space.

Accolades for achievement within the arts often come in individual recognition as was experienced over the past decade, but this achievement was the first time Coal City was awarded this position within the festival’s 48-year history. When schools are adjudicated for participation, they come with no population size classifications; Coal City High School, a school of about 600 total students competes with schools of all sizes when they are selected for this competition.

Again, all of the hallmarks of a championship culture are evident. Coal City hosted an alumni show before the new year that showcased a lot of the talent that came before the current high school class who set the bar for what was expected to participate in Coal City’s Theater Department. The team that produced “Alice By Heart” pulls in dedicated members of the community regardless of their compensation; the production is the culmination of the best stage design, costuming, singing and acting produced within an Illinois high school. The parents are dedicating their time and energy on a common goal ensuring their kids continue to practice and be the best. Continued success results in even more partners willing to participate – it was a local trucking firm that simply volunteered to move the entire stage setup to Bloomington in inches of snow followed by sub-zero weather (with no relation to a child within the cast) and still others provide donations to ensure the cast is fed and has the props necessary to make the production the caliber that is expected to be best in State.

Almost a year ago, I was congratulating the Coal City wrestling team and now I am proud to congratulate the Coal City Theater Department – thank you for adding to our pride of being Coalers!