The Show Must Go On
Saturday May 8, the East theatre department put on their spring production of Antigone. Due to complications regarding COVID-19 the play was only open to parents of the casts and crew. There were two shows, one at 2:30 and the other at 7:00.
Antigone is a future fantasy play, with a similar storyline to Romeo and Juliet. The main character, Antigone, buried her brother who was a traitor to the kingdom which was deemed illegal by the king. Her crime was punishable by death, however she was engaged to the king’s son, Haemon. Haemon told the king that he would die with Antigone if she was killed. In the end, both Haemon and Antigone die together and the king regrets his law.
The cast was split into two groups, Cast A and a Cast B, to help with keeping people separated in case there were any quarantined students. Throughout the rehearsal process, many cast members did have to be quarantined putting the production behind schedule. Since the quarantined students could not come in to rehearse, the casts could not practice with the people that they would be performing with. Therefore, it was difficult to get an accurate feel for how the shows would go.
Antigone was originally set to be performed on the weekend of April 23 but all of the setbacks made that date impossible to achieve. Many actors were coming back from being in quarantine and therefore the show was able to only be postponed and not canceled.
The casts and crew worked extra hard to meet the May 8 performance date and the show was a success. Here is to hoping that next year’s productions will be able to be open to more than just parents and that the Columbus community can enjoy them as well.
