One of the things changing about De Soto High school’s play this year is that it has been switched from the fall to the spring. However, that’s not the only thing changing. The school also has a new director for the play this year.“I am excited to work with Mrs. Yarnell in the play. She’s awesome. We love her a lot. She’s been great,” senior Kassidy Forshey said.

Mary Yarnell is the long-term substitute filling the teaching position for the drama, theater, and communication classes for the rest of the 2013-14 school year. Yarnell will also be directing De Soto High School’s annual spring play.

“The play is entitled The Complete works of William Shakespeare Abridged. It is a farce [satire] on all of Shakespeare’s plays, and it’s very funny,” Yarnell said.

Yarnell said that she enjoys the play because it can have a varied range of actors and is also very flexible talent-wise.

Yarnell has a very broad range of experience in theater activities.

“I’ve been in a lot of plays and productions, both in acting and directing. I also do costuming, makeup and set design. I have done costuming, makeup and set design for the Blue Valley school district for about 20 years on a supplemental basis,” Yarnell said.

Even with a more flexible play this spring, there is still a considerable amount of work, time and effort that goes into organizing and running it.

“I chose a play that had flexible casting. Once you select the play, you go through set design, costuming, things like that, then you audition for the actors and actresses. After we have chosen the cast, we do a read through of the script. By that time, it should be spring break. My expectation is that by then they will have their parts memorized so that we can then start on character work,” Yarnell said.

If everything goes according to Yarnell’s schedule, the projected show date is April 17 and 18.

With the clock ticking towards the show, students can expect to see and hear more news about the upcoming spring play as it begins to go through more stages of development and begins preparing for the show.