The spring play at PLHS this year is called “The Awesome 80’s Prom.” The play will take place on April 11th, 12th, and 13th in the auditorium of Prior Lake High School.
Karina Nelson has recently been hired as the new director for the play. Nelson is a former theater director at PLHS. She is also currently an English teacher at MNCAPS and has been for 7 years.
Nelson is excited for this show. She came back this year with some new and fun ideas for the theater program.
“It’s hard if you have theater in your blood to totally kind of squelch it down for so long, so it just seemed like this year there were a whole series of events that were calling me back to the theater,” Nelson said.
Makenzie Bounds is a PLHS theater member for 4 years and one of the cast members of this play.
“I think [Nelson] is just super sweet and welcoming, and she’s so organized and on top of everything,” Makenzie said. “She seems like she’s going to be super fun to work with. I’m so excited that we have her in our theater department now.”
This play is about a prom night set in 1989. The play has an interactive aspect to it where the audience can actually vote for the prom king and queen, and this can change the outcome of the play.
“The Awesome 80’s Prom was the one that the current directing group liked the best, and we instantly sparked some excitement over,” Nelson said.
This play is different from the other plays at PLHS because the students get to do improvisation with their characters.
“This play I would say is very different because it’s super interactive, and half of it is improv, so we really want the audience to be on the stage and interacting with the characters,” Makenzie said.
The audience is even encouraged to dress like they are going to an 80’s prom.
“The way that this show is put together is almost like it’s a living museum,” Nelson said.
In the play, audience members are encouraged to be a part of the production and come on stage and join the actors.
“There’s also going to be lots of little 80’s references, so parents or people who are familiar with some of the 80’s pop culture can look for those, which will be really fun,” Nelson said.
This play brings some room for flexibility with the characters. The students who auditioned for the play were assigned to do improvisation.
“They brought together some of these really interesting characters, and actually some of the characters that kids auditioned with are ending up in the show as their character that they got cast in,” Nelson said.
The new cast of the play will be able to show off their creative sides with this production.
“They are such a fun group to collaborate with, and they’re so supportive of each other,” Nelson said.
