The abrupt ending to the 2019-2020 school year shut down the musical, Drowsy Chaperone. Many of the Burke Theatre Department’s students were disappointed that they were no longer able to continue their season and perform after months of hard work.

Although COVID-19 slowed down the Burke Theatre Department’s season, during the winter they were able to present an online play of The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime over Microsoft Teams.

This spring, the theatre department is putting on their first in-person event of the 2020-2021 school year. The students will be taking on Into the Woods, a musical based on the stories of “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel,” and “Cinderella.”

They held in-person auditions in February as well as online applications for Into the Woods crew for fully remote and in-person positions.

“The audition process was identical to past years, minus the masks of course. We received our music ahead of time and sang a short piece of a song from the show. Afterwards, we were asked to do a cold-read and a monologue. It is always a very chill, loving and welcoming environment at auditions,” junior Briana Nash said.

After auditions, the cast members were given their roles and have been practicing after school for their upcoming show.

“Students who are not in person can still be involved in the show through tech crew, while people in the set have to be in person,” senior Campbell Burmood said. “People interested in costumes, props and publicity can still help remotely.”

As online students have remote roles, in-person students mask-up for the stage.

“We always wear masks and students social distance when waiting for their scene on stage,” Drama teacher Emily Mokrycki said. “We have had to adapt some blocking, which means actors movement on stage, to keep students within a safe distance on stage. It can be challenging, but we are all so thankful to be back performing again.”

Into the Woods will be performed in-person Apr. 16 and 17 at 7 p.m and Apr. 18 at 2 p.m.

“Each night only 150-247 tickets will be available in our auditorium that seats 988 due to social distancing of groups,” Mokrycki said.

Tickets are currently available and are free to the public on www.bhsne.booktix.com.