Curtain rises for Bay Port High School musical, first time since pandemic

SUAMICO, Wis. (WBAY) - The curtain is going up for the first time in over a year at the Bay Port High School auditorium, as theater students prepare for their first performance since the pandemic.

Last year’s production of the “Wizard of Oz” got swept away by a tornado disguised as a global pandemic.

Now, theater students are pouring their hearts and souls into this year’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

“To find out it was canceled, especially with some of my best friends and cast along side me, was extremely difficult, but it really makes you grateful for the experiences that you do get to have here,” said Madalyn Paulsen, a senior.

It’s her last leading role on the Bay Port stage, which has come with a set of exciting new challenges.

“We have these really complex set pieces, how are we going to operate them while staying six feet apart? These are puppets that operate with openings because they eat live people; it’s like a very complicated process,” said Paulsen.

In order to keep the cast separated even more, there are two casts. The Freshman/Sophomore cast and Junior/Senior cast.

“We’ve kept those two casts completely separate; they haven’t really worked together. So, that’s really helped keep the threat of spread down,” said Jaclyn Beattie, the director

The school is also keeping the audience separated by only allowing family in for the live performance.

“What’s really cool about this year, and we’ve never done this before, we actually had a production company come in and record one of our performances... people are going to be able to stream that for free,” said Beattie.

Click here to get tickets to the virtual show.

The show starts this Thursday with the Freshman and Sophomore performances.

Those opting to watch from home will have to sign up to be sent a link to the video, which will only be available during the same time slots as the live performance.

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