By Bruce Karnick

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If you have ever been involved in theater, you know the rule of “The show must go on.” The Hastings High School Drama Club carried on that tradition with their own version of Romeo and Juliet. Because of COVID restrictions, spectators were not allowed indoors for fall events, so the Drama Club adjusted. No elaborate sets, limited props and simply talented kids still put on a wonderful production for folks to view at home. The production was recorded and edited by the amazing guys at Hastings Community Television, Ian Andrysiak, Hunter Pinke, Kurt Radtke and Mike Bremer. Once finished, the show was scheduled to be streamed on the Drama Club’s Facebook page and played back on Hastings Community Television. The recording took place on November 13th and the premier of the video happened on December 18th.

Director Molly McElroy started the video with a welcome statement.

“Hello, my name is Molly McElroy and I’m the director of Hastings High School’s production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I wanted to take just a brief moment to acknowledge the unique and strange circumstances we dealt with, while making this production happen. Our rehearsal process took a hybrid approach, similar to what the beginning of the school year looked like. We met on zoom a couple of nights a week and were able to meet in person the other couple of days. Luckily, when we filmed on Friday November 13. The current COVID regulations and guidelines allowed us to still be together in this space, performing with masks on. I would like to thank principal Mike Johnson for his leadership, always, but especially during this time.

I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge some of the themes and the story of Romeo and Juliet. This is a story about a group of incredibly smart outspoken and brave young people. Much like the group of young people that make up this cast. This is a group that is asking and begging and crying out for changes that they see necessary in their world. A theme that we think may ring true to many of you today. However, Romeo and Juliet is a story that ends in a tragedy. We as a cast and production team, recognize that we’re living in a world filled with isolation and loneliness and know that mental health and wellness are more important now than they’ve ever been. On the following slide we would like to offer resources to you or someone you know if you need them. We are so grateful that you’re here. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the cast and production team. We would like to wish you and yours a very happy healthy holiday season. Thank you for supporting this group of incredible young people, and we hope you enjoy our show. Be well.”

The slide McElroy referenced displayed the National Suicide prevention hotline 1-800-273-TALK(8255), an important reminder that your metal health is important, you are important and help is available if you need it.

After a few moments, a friendly reminder appeared, “This production was filmed under all applicable guidelines that were in effect as of Friday, November 13th, 2020.”

Once the production began, the cast performed admirably given the circumstances of the year. It was difficult at times to hear everything being said through masks, but overall, you could hear most of what they were saying. It seems this was more of a technical limitation of the audio recording resources of a high school production than anything. It is not like they were recording on a Hollywood sound stage, so you cannot fault the production crew and the kids were projecting best they could through cloth. Visually, the masks were a little distracting because the actors had to keep adjusting them up, but once the viewer became used to the actors wearing the masks, the distraction disappeared. The posts on social media were all very positive between people congratulating the club for a job well done and people excited to see a high school production, it was enjoyed by everyone who watched it. The entire production, with the introduction piece, had a run time of 1:15 minutes.

If you would like to watch the production yourself, it is currently available on Facebook. In your search bar, look for “Hastings High School Drama Club”, you will find the video there.

Great Job Director McElroy and all the students involved. Thank you for following the tried-and-true mantra of “the show must go on!”