Senior projects are a crucial part of a senior’s course requirement in the theater program. While it is a requirement for completion of the fine arts academy,  the projects are not an actual grade, according to program director Aaron Kelsey,  Students have gotten creative with several of their projects ranging from teaching children to producing their own plays.

MCHS senior Elijah Pahls did a mash up of famous musicals entitled, “A Little Bit of Everything,” which included portions of Little Shop of Horrors, Sweeney Todd, The Music Man, The Book of Mormon, West Side Story, among others. He worked for several weeks to perfect his play. To begin, he created an original script, but the person helping him got accepted to college and was unable to help. This did not affect his determination. Instead he created his interesting mash up.

“The play went surprisingly well; it was humorous,” Pahls said.

Senior Nash Grooms auditioned a number of students for an event called, “PlayFest.” This event was held by Hanover College and it consisted of multiple schools from around the Indiana and Kentucky areas. It was a competition between the schools to see who could put on the best show. All play productions were supposed to be produced by students and students only.

“I was the director of our show. Our team had a total of 12 members: 10 actors, one director, (and) one stage manager. We performed a cut selection of Neil Simon’s Rumors. This project took a little over a month to prepare for. I had to do various things like direction in acting, set design, lighting design, and overall, lead the direction of Neil Simon’s Rumors.”

“We did very well at Hanover’s PlayFest. One of our performers, Chad Ison, received one of the two best actor awards. Our production received great responses from the judges out at Hanover.”

Bek Hoffman, has been teaching art classes to a diverse range of children aged three years old to 10. Hoffman had an unexpected twist when teaching class. “(Teaching) was surprisingly hilarious,” Hoffman said.

Other students who have participated in the senior projects are Tristan Kelsey, Mitch Shaw, Seth Brawner, Karlee Sherman, and Allison McClain.