Tickets came with admission and dessert at the Highland theater program’s Play and Musical Production cabaret fundraiser last night. A stage was set up in the cafeteria to give the event more of a “dinner and a show” feel than a performance in the auditorium.

“A Cabaret is where lots of different types of theater are performed in one big showcase,” Alexie Baugh, Highland’s fresh new theater teacher said. “I haven’t been here in the past, so I didn’t know what to compare it to, but most people seemed really positive and the students were excited about it. We had a good turnout.”

Each student from the class came out in turns to perform a monologue, dialogue, or song from a musical, play, or film.

Seniors Brian McDonald and Isabella Giordano wrote their own script, piecing all of the acts together with a single storyline. The theme was “Out with the old, in with the new.” It centered around the characters Ell and Henry and the story of how they live, fall in love, and grow old together. Eventually Henry dies of cancer (Spoiler alert) and Ell is left alone.

“We were given a list of songs and were like, ‘how do we make this into a story where I die,’” McDonald said.

They used the emotions generated by each of the acts to represent the loneliness or awkwardness or sadness of each part of their show. The scene before Henry died, Daniel Anson and Bri Irvine performed a heartbreaking scene from the musical Les Miserables which amplified the impact of his death. 

“Death is always sad,” Giordano said. “ Especially when someone is left alone.”

Several audience members were brought to tears at the end of the show by the deeply personal performance.

“It is amazing to see people’s emotional reactions,” McDonald said. “Seeing something go from paper to stage to the hearts of individuals is amazing.”

Each performance was a representation of the work that these theater students put into their craft. Through Cute love songs, intense commentary monologues and toga parties the creativity and talent of the entire Play Productions program was shown.

Highland Senior, Sara Kenrick, explained the show as a whole perfectly: “This was just theater kids having a really hecking good time.”