The Palatine High School play, musical, and improv shows left a lot of uncertainty for students about how these productions will continue this year due to the pandemic. Advisers from Drama Club answered all the concerns students may have for this dire time.

“Performance without an audience, no matter how big or small, is not a performance,” the play’s director Douglas Gross said.

All parts of the Drama Club at PHS have plans to continue their productions in timely manners, eventually coming to the stage in-person. The play is in preparation for their fall show, “The Show Must Go On!” It will include classic skits, duets, and monologues. The play and Improv hope they will be able to come to PHS to practice in-person once they are allowed to.

“We chose to put together several sketches and monologues for the Fall Play so that small groups of students—or individuals—can get individualized attention from the directors online and eventually in person,” Gross said. 

Improv will continue with comedic routines, but just on a more general level. They meet every other Thursday and after Drama Club meetings on alternating Wednesdays. Comics will perform at home for their first show through video. However, they will not have one of their biggest components of their shows: the audience.

“We have a very dedicated and enthusiastic group of students returning from last year, along with several very talented newcomers, so I’m not too worried about the impact of losing the energy from the crowd,” the improv advisor Sara Dyson said.

The musical will happen later in the school year. There are still no certain plans for the theme or how auditions will work, but directors are working hard to brainstorm ideas.

“Our musical probably won’t look like any musical we’ve ever done before, and that’s okay,” the musical co-director Emily Fazio said. “Our biggest goals are making sure we can still involve all the students we usually do, and that all of our students have a fun, educational theatre experience.”

Drama club meets on Wednesdays through Zoom. Contact the advisers for more information.