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On April 1st, the Encinal Drama Department had its closing night for The Lightning Thief, the musical adaptation of the novel by the same name. The story follows Percy Jackson, a teenage boy who learns he is the son of a Greek god. Unlike the Drama Department’s showing of The Wolves in the fall semester, The Lightning Thief was performed in Encinal’s gym.
Most of the plot is demonstrated through songs, which ranged from lively to somber throughout the show.
“I always really like learning choreo because I’m not really a dancer, so it’s something very new to me,” said sophomore Inky Arneson, who played the leading role of Percy Jackson in the musical.
One unique highlight of the production was the class makeup of the cast. Much of the performers were underclassmen, with the youngest being 6th grader Leiloa Lyons.
Arneson predicts that this will cement the roots of a flourishing Drama Department. “Knowing that this is gonna be the makeup of the drama department for the next however many years is really exciting.”
“I’ve been listening to the Lightning Thief since I was, like, 12 years old, and it’s always my dream to play the role I did,” said sophomore Sam Cleminshaw, who co-lead the show in the role of Annabeth Chase.
At closing night, tickets were sold out with well over 200 sales.
“I’m so proud of how amazing everybody was and how many people are so committed to this, and the way that all of our actors are so young,” said senior Sophia Singa, who worked on stage crew for the production.
“Everyone was crying, but I couldn’t believe that it was over. It just felt all so unreal. Everything went so impossibly well,” said Arneson. “It was just like ‘This is really the last time I get to do this?’ I didn’t feel like I’d done five shows and it was just so strange.”