Hilliard Middle Schools Perform "Shrek"

This year all three of the Hilliard Middle Schools banded together to perform a big play before the upcoming Thanksgiving break. This is the first time this has been attempted, as each middle school usually puts on its own individual performance. The idea was a smashing success as it allowed the schools to combine all of their money, resources, and time into one big show. This meant there were more people to cast and more willing to participate. Additionally, this allowed the participants to meet kids and form friendships with children from the other Hilliard schools. With the increased participation, came an increase in audience numbers as well. As a member of the audience, I was certainly impressed by the sheer enthusiasm coming from the people surrounding us, along with the lack of seats available.

Shrek Jr. is a playwright version of the wildly popular movie Shrek. This was so fun to see brought to life by kids in our very own school district. I was blown away by the high quality of the production, but I was also aware that the director and sixth-grade choir teacher, Joy Grubbs, has notoriously put on incredible plays.

A critical part of what made this show so successful was the casting. It was so well done, as each member played their assigned character exceptionally well. Notably, many of the leading cast members had phenomenal singing voices, which really brought the play to an even higher quality. Due to the high number of kids auditioning, the cast was limited to 60 people with auditions being on August 29th.

8th grader Barrett Bower played Shrek performing beside 8th grader Ben Adelman who played Donkey. They were a dynamic duo on stage, captivating the audience with funny one-liners and animated expressions. Catherine Todd, playing Fiona, also had a stand-out performance with exceptional musical numbers. I could name countless other cast members that put on wonderful performances, and each one of them contributed to making the show so well done.

There were lots of sweet opportunities for audience members to show their support for the cast, as parents could have put personalized messages to their children in the playbill. Friends could show their support by sending cast members a candy gram which included a king-sized piece of candy along with a congratulatory note cast member received after each show.

Overall, I highly recommend going to support the Hilliard school theatre performances, as they are often enjoyable ways to see students' creativity come to life. This was seen in the middle school’s rendition of Shrek Jr. and I, for one, cannot wait to see what the schools do in the future.