In the past year and a half, the drama club has looked a little different. With school getting shut down in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” was canceled. In 2021, they put on a musical called “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Then, in late March, former director Debra Williamson retired. Williamson was the director for 31 years. With that being said, some teachers stepped up to keep the musicals going. This year, they plan to put on one of the best musicals yet. 

The new directors are Freedom teachers Debrah Evans, Cole Eged, Heather Giammaria and Jennifer Newman. All five are extremely excited and looking forward to this year’s crew of kids. 

“I think this year’s drama club is going to be the best drama club the district has seen. I think they could go to battle with people on Broadway, and come out the victor,” Eged said. 

The first drama club meeting was held on Oct. 4, where information was spread about this year’s musical. During the meeting, members discussed and voted for this year’s officers. 

Madison Sanders and Kyler Brown were elected as Co-Presidents, Leannah Messenger was elected as Vice President, Brigette Richard was elected as Secretary and Connor Tavern was elected as the Treasurer. 

The directors informed the students that there will be no Haunted High School event this year. Although many kids enjoyed the haunted fun in past years, there is a lot going on in the club with all of the new people. The consensus is that it would be too much to plan out right now. 

With the musical coming up in the spring, a lot of planning has been made already. Auditions will be held sometime in the first week of November and more information will be sent out at a closer date. Anyone who plans to audition must come to auditions with a song, dance and a scene to perform and try out with. After auditions, the directors will figure out who gets each part and the musical name will be announced. 

“I am looking forward to the upcoming musical! I can’t wait to get to know the new directors and the freshmen in the club. It’s going to be fun!” sophomore Josephine Brenckle said. 

At the meeting they also talked about how the following months will play out.

 “Yes, I’m super excited and have really good energy around it,” Evans said. 

At the end of the meeting, the members talked about how they are very excited to see all of the recurring and new faces.

“I am definitely looking forward to this year’s musical. We have an amazing group of people running it and I’m excited to see how they will run it,” freshman Lainey Tuszynski said.

All in all, everyone on the musical team is super excited and ready to work hard to put on a great performance. 

“But in all seriousness, I can’t wait to start working with this crew, and the future looks bright,” Eged said.