Blast from the past

Every fall, in honor of the upcoming musical, members of the Performing Arts department host a community event. These events are held to get the community excited and engaged for the approaching musical. This year the Performing Arts department is putting on Footloose! A musical based on the popular 1980s film!

Emily Astroski, the drama teacher, organized this year's community event. "The purpose of a community event is for our performing arts students to further connect to the community in Plainfield," she said. "The events bring the art to more people outside of the stage performance. These events are there for everyone to have fun and for the cast to get more comfortable with their character as well," Astroski said.

Astroski explained how this past event was memorable. "Seeing the student actors engaging with the children that came and watching them teach the dances, stay in character, and teach them about the town that Footloose is set in was very memorable," she said. "Later we had a student, Senior Colin Bell, who plays Reverend Shaw, a big advocate for the dance ban, bust into the auditorium and try to catch all of the children dancing on the stage. He did it all in character and all of the other actors also responded in character. It was a cute improv moment," she said.

She explained her personal, favorite aspect of the community events the cast and crew host. "My favorite aspect is seeing my students step up and really go to extremes I never expected. I love watching them stay in character the entire time," Astroski said. "Senior Olivia Hess was talking to her mom, but Olivia wasn't talking to her mom, it was Sally from Bomont Oklahoma. Anytime her mom would ask her about her home life, she would respond in a confused fashion. She stayed so committed to her character. Just watching everyone so engaged with the community in a positive way is the best part for me," she said.

Story by Kate Militello