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Lincoln Community High School
Thespian Club welcomed Halloween with their 25th annual Spooktacular,
an entertaining show about Halloween safety performed for area
schoolchildren the week of Halloween every year. The 30-minute show
is written, directed, crewed, choreographed, and performed entirely
by LCHS students. Preparations begin after Fall Play at LCHS, so
this year there were three weeks, a week longer than usual, to put
together this show for their young audiences.
This year’s performances were on October 28 in the LCHS auditorium
with 400 children attending in the morning and 550 in the afternoon.
Children ages preschool through third grade came from almost every
school in Logan County including District 27, West
Lincoln-Broadwell, Chester-East Lincoln, Carroll Catholic, New
Holland-Middletown, Mt. Pulaski, and preschoolers from Christian
Child Care.
The Spooktacular features a different cast of characters and a new
story every year, but teaches the same lessons about safety and
incorporates the same original songs from year to year. This year’s
show was set on Sesame Street and featured familiar characters from
the children’s program preparing for Halloween together. Elmo, Big
Bird, Grover, Cookie Monster, Abby, Zoe, Bert, Ernie, and Oscar
taught lessons through skit, song, and dance about Halloween safety.
Lesson one taught costume safety: make sure costumes are visible in
the dark and are not so long they cause tripping hazards. Ensure
visibility and safe passage by carrying a light, or even a glow
stick to make safety more fun. Lesson two was how to stay safe if
children are separated from their families while trick-or-treating.
Families should agree on a “safe word” so that when searching for a
lost child, adults can identify themselves as a safe person with the
secret word upon locating the child. If a stranger tries to persuade
a child to go with him, children learned to just say “No.” The third
lesson was to not eat homemade treats or unwrapped treats to avoid
tummy aches.
During the production, costumed dancers sang and danced in the
aisles of the auditorium making the production more interactive for
the children seated in the audience. The aisle dancers were members
of the Thespian Club, along with 10 members of the LCHS Pom Squad.
All members of Thespians participate in Spooktacular, and this is
the largest cast since before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to
Thespian Club President Emery Kitterman.
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Photo by Stephanie Hall
This year’s
Spooktacular was written and directed by Thespian Club officers
Kitterman, Marin Luckhart (Vice president), Maelee Cunningham
(Secretary), and Alaina Bauer (Treasurer). The Thespian officers
worked collaboratively on the script for this year’s
Spooktacular and it took them approximately a month to write.
LCHS staff sponsor Samantha Murphy said, “Our student directors
have done a really great job.”
The cast of this year’s Spooktacular featured Joshua Hellman as
Elmo, Grant Eales as Big Bird, Zachery Eckhardt as Oscar, Ryne
Manuel as Grover, Sophia Wilkerson as Cookie Monster, Hailee
Rempe as Abby, Mady McEvers as Zoe, Mackenzie Plummer as Bert,
Kenidie Evans as Ernie, and Emersyn Keith as the Ominous Voice.
Stage and technical crew included Kamy
Battin, Rory Snyder, Arielle Rempe, Abby Newlun, Sammy Lewis, Jude
Snyder, Ellie McFadden, and Charlotte Judd. Aisle dancers were
Malina Luckhart, Cameron Wilmert, Baileigh Shehorn, Ruby Thomas,
Cynthia Flener, Alexis Lamb, Violet Loeffler, Kay Coers, Sarah Dahmm,
Ashlan Bruns, Alexia Merritt, Ryann Lile, Grace Nutter, Elle Fults,
Brenley Bruns, Kori Singleton, McKinlee Stoltzenburg, Myah Bowman,
and Hattie Roland.
Stephanie Hall |
