HHS actors headed for Theatre Fest

Harrisburg High School Drama Department is taking "Charlotte's Web" on the road.

The play was a hit when performed in October and the actors will reprise their roles three times Friday at the 2015 Illinois High School Theatre Festival at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Director Hannah Drake said the festival is making an effort to encompass talent throughout the state. The last time Harrisburg High School participated in "Theatre Fest" was about 10 years ago.

"Charlotte's Web" fit the Theatre Fest's category of Showcase - performances lasting an hour or less and with sets that can be set up in 15 minutes and taken down in 15 minutes.

"We built this with Theatre Fest in mind. The original design was for it to be able to be picked up quite easily," Drake said.

Drake said she was very pleased with the October performances, noting it is daunting to take on such an iconic story involving characters so many of us have loved since childhood.

"It's kind of a risk doing shows with characters people know so well. Everyone comes in with their own perceptions of what the characters are like and the costumes and set look like," Drake said.

The actors pulled it off.

"Our kids do very well with storybook characters," she said.

They performed well enough Theatre Fest accepted their application as one of only 21 schools to perform. About 4,100 students and teachers will be attending Theatre Fest.

Students will also have opportunities to visit workshops on acting, singing, dancing, how to audition, costuming and more. One student, Brett Pinkerton - who plays Templeton the Rat - will be auditioning before college recruiters with the hopes of earning a scholarship.

Two former Harrisburg High School students - Cassandra Watkins and Jayden Roper - will be recruiting actors for potential Southeastern Illinois College scholarships. Both are attending SIC on scholarships.

Janet Hart - longtime costume designer for HHS and SIC plays - will be leading a workshop on costume design along with fellow costumer designer Gareth York of Equality. The workshop will be called "Red Hot Designs on a Dime."