Nazareth Academy Fall Play Chosen For Theatre Festival

LA GRANGE PARK, IL — The cast and crew of Nazareth Academy's fall play "The Glass Menagerie" will head to University of Illinois to perform at the 45th annual Illinois High School Theatre Festival. The school said the fest is held Jan. 10-12 at the university.Bravo to the cast and crew of our fall play!

“We are so honored to be part of this festival,” Kim White, the play’s director and head of Nazareth’s Drama Department, said in a release. “We put our hearts and souls into bringing this memory play to life, even inviting the audience onto the stage with us. I am so thrilled that our students were recognized and rewarded.”

The school said "The Glass Menagerie" marks Nazareth’s eighth selection to IHSTF, having last performed in 2013 with "Godspell."

The three-day festival takes place every year in early January, and switches locations between the University of Illinois and Illinois State University. Over 4,000 students, teachers, university representatives, exhibitors and volunteers come together to celebrate theatre, the school said.

“Not only will our students have the chance to mount two performances of 'The Glass Menagerie' in front of their peers, but they will then be able to take advantage of a terrific variety of craft-oriented workshops,” White said.

In the meantime, both actors and the skeletal stage crew traveling to Urbana have to rehearse not just the show, but also the unloading of the entire set and tech for the production.

“We have just two hours to unload, assemble and light the entire show (which travels in a 24-foot truck) before our first performance,” explains White, “So right now we’re assigning specific jobs and timing it to the minute.”

Photo provided by Nazareth Academy.