OLCHS's Fall Musical 'American Idiot' Plays Oct. 22-24

Oak Lawn Community High School’s award-winning theater program is taking a departure from the usual Broadway show for its fall musical by staging the more challenging rock musical featuring the music of Green Day.

American Idiot centers on the story of three disenchanted young men -- Johnny, Tunny and Will -- who are bored with suburbia and fed up with parental restrictions. The three take off for the big city where their paths quickly become stranged. Tunny joins the army, Will returns home to take care of a pregnant girlfriend, and Johnny discovers drugs and enters in a hazardous relationship. The musical features little dialogue, with the songs and music of Green Day carrying a strong social message.

The two-time, Tony Award winning musical debuted in 2010 and includes every song from Green Day’s GRAMMY-award winning, multi-platinum, American Idiot album, as well as several songs from the band’s follow-up album, 21st Century Breakdown.

American Idiot runs this Thursday through Saturday, Oct, 22-24 with performances starting at 7 p.m. at Oak Lawn Community High School, 9400 Southwest Highway.

Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 at the door. Tickets are available through the ticket hotline at 708-424-5200, x5920.

“We are fortunate enough to be one of the first high schools in the nation to be performing this musical; it’s definitely an edgy and gritty look at the trials and tribulations of young adults and the hard realities that we all face when figuring out who we are as we grow older,” says musical director Billy Denton. “The students have been handling the material wonderfully, and it’s been exciting to watch the songs many of us grew up with come to life on the stage.”

Before Friday’s performance, OLCHS alum Jayne Saniat (‘82) and Jim Dague (‘84), both former speech and theater students that have since gone on to start a children’s music and book company, will be inducted into the OLCHS Alumni Hall of Fame.