The play's the thing

ST. HENRY - A pair of St. Henry High School students used their time during the statewide lockdown to write and compose their own musical, "Playing the Game," which debuts in late November.

Seniors Rachel Werling and Natalie Uhlenhake were both part of a production of "Hello, Dolly!" with the Crescent Players community theater group in the spring when they came up with the idea.

What started as a one-off idea soon turned serious as schools were forced to close and students had to learn from home. Director Candy Hemmelgarn told the girls their goal would be difficult to accomplish when they pitched their idea, but Werling and Uhlenhake were undeterred.

It took a week alone for the girls to settle on a story line. Werling pitched the idea of Blair Dickson, an aspiring singer-songwriter, and her best friend, Janessa Green, grappling with a hawkish music manager who offers Dickson a deal that's too good to be true.

The characters share some obvious commonalities with their creators. Uhlenhake already is an accomplished singer-songwriter, while Werling recently published her first fantasy novel entitled "Time."

Once they agreed on the story line, Werling set out to write the script and Uhlenhake to compose the music. Over the course of four to five months, the pair worked together to figure out how to tie it all together.

"Quarantine helped," Werling said, laughing.

"We'd be like 'OK, there's a song here and a song here,'" Uhlenhake said. "We had to be in contact constantly for the script and the songs to match up."

The music itself has pop vibes while staying true to musical theater, Uhlenhake said. She recorded the tracks for all the songs herself, which she said features some "big box" songs and a few tear-jerkers.

One benefit to a student-made production is Werling and Uhlenhake were able to create the musical with their peers in mind. With a small group of about 15 people, the two said writing their own musical let them create characters and songs that could play to their classmates' strengths.

"If we write the musical, we could write with the cast in mind," Werling said.

Although the two didn't have a hand in casting, they do get a say in how the stage is blocked, how characters interact and ensure their production is interpreted the way they imagined. They also have taken feedback from Hemmelgarn and their fellow castmates.

Werling said she's thrilled to see their project come to life, while Uhlenhake said having other people perform her songs has been exciting.

Werling said the process for writing the script was different from writing a book. The senior said she often had to stop herself from giving too much detail and curb unnecessary additions.

"You can't give actors too much direction or detail like you can with a book," Werling said. "The script is just dialog, a book is a lot more."

Uhlenhake and Werling anticipate their show will be a full-length, two-act production clocking in around one hour, 45 minutes to two hours, including intermission and scene changes. The pair said they wanted to create something full-length with depth, rather than something short or bite-sized.

"We were going to go full bore or not at all," Uhlenhake said.

If you go:
What: "Playing the Game," a musical written and performed by students.
When: 7 p.m. Nov. 20-21, 2 p.m. Nov. 22
Where: St. Henry High School
Tickets: Adults $8, students $6. Pre-sale tickets are available at the high school office. People are encouraged to buy tickets early because of capacity limits due to COVID-19.