For years, the theatre department at Mundelein High School was known as MHS Theatre. But starting this year, the department will change its moniker to Mundelein Theatre. “The issue with being known as MHS Theatre is that many other schools whose name starts with an ‘M’ use that same name,” said Jonathan Meier, theatre director at MHS. “Having Mundelein in our title gives us much stronger name recognition.” So armed with a new name and a new logo, Mundelein Theatre has announced their 2016-2017 season.
Opening the year will be the Student Directed One-Act Plays. This year an all-time high nine plays have been selected. The plays are chosen, cast and directed by MHS seniors. The plays average 12 minutes in length. Performances are September 6 and 7 at 7 p.m.
Next up is Completely Hollywood, by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor. This is the New Faces production, providing an opportunity for freshmen and sophomores, as well as junior and seniors who have never acted on the Mundelein main stage. This seriously silly show biz satire cuts through the celluloid to condense the 186 greatest films in Hollywood's over 100-year history into a complete compilation of classic cinematic clichés - plus a few brand new clichés. Performances are October 28 and 29 at 7 p.m, and October 29 at 3:45 p.m.
The fall play will be The Best Man, written by the celebrated American writer, Gore Vidal. The perfect play for an election year, the show deals with a fictional presidential primary in 1960. The play examines the nature of power, the quest for power and the way power makes people behave. The witty dialogue and clever characters give the play a sense of satirical fun. Performance dates are November 10, 11 and 12 at 7 pm, and November 11 at 3:45 pm.
This winter will bring a twist on one of Shakespeare’s most popular and beloved plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Staged on the school’s 200-seat thrust stage, Mundelein Theatre will be setting the play in the day room of a mental hospital. So what happens when the inmates get control of the asylum? The answer is, of course…Shakespeare!
The story and language remain the same - the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, four young Athenian lovers, a group of rude mechanicals, all controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play runs February 2, 3 and 4 at 7 p.m, and February 3 at 3:45 p.m.
Once again, Mundelein Theatre will compete in IHSA Group Interpretation. This year they will be adapting the novel Stranger Than Fiction, by Zach Helm. A mentally unstable IRS auditor hears an author's voice in his head and discovers that he is the ill-fated protagonist of her latest work. While a book company employee tries to cure the author's case of writer's block, the auditor and a professor set out to find the woman and make her change her story. There will be public performances held at MHS on March 16 and 17 at 7 p.m.
Springtime at Mundelein High School always means musical season. This year’s musical is City of Angels, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Larry Gelbart. The show is two musicals in one. It is the interweaving of two plots, one dealing with the writing of a screenplay in the legendary Hollywood of the 1940’s; the other, the enactment of that screenplay. It is entirely appropriate, then, that the final curtain comes down on two happy endings. The show runs April 27 and 28 at 7 p.m. and April 29 at 2 and 7 p.m.
More information about the season can be found here.