This year, the De Soto High School theatre department made the story of Beauty and the Beast come to life. With the new Performing Arts Center and resources to put on a production, the audience loved the show. 

De Soto’s theatre department has always put on great shows, but the lack of resources held the theatre department back. However, after funding to build a new theatre that includes a pit, professional lighting, and with hundreds of seats in the auditorium, DHS theatre was able to set a new reputation for the program.

Since lots of changes were made, there were lots of opportunities for the theatre department to grow and focus on, according to senior Anna D’Andrea.

“I think having the new PAC really helped us get into the mindset to put on such a big show because it gave us creative opportunities we didn’t have before,” D’Andrea said. “It helped us put on a show that we’ve never done.”

Due to the theatre being revamped, there was a lot more to focus on such as lighting, sound, and backdrops but head director Sarah Cronkelton-Kidd and assistant director Mindy Fry helped keep all actors focused like senior Savannah Nicol. 

“They really got us to focus and kept telling us that we were going to be proud of the work after we were done. We were proud after we were done performing,” Nicol said.

Not only were Nicol and her peers proud of themselves, but the opening night was special for D’Andrea because of the audience’s reactions.

“You tell the same jokes so many times in rehearsal that you forget they’re funny so when you actually have people enjoy your performance it helps you get into character and feel the show for the first time in months.” D’Andrea said. “It was just nice to get to see people enjoy it for the first time.”

The variety of these changes to the theatre department left some audience members in awe of the show.

Senior Chloe Collins watched the show on opening night and enjoyed the musical.

“This was the first musical that I attended and I was amazed to see what they put on,” Collins said.

Since this was the first year the theatre program was able to put on a musical of this length, and it will be the last for the year, students are encouraged to buy tickets online or at the door to support DHS’ theatre program’s improvements.