Every teen in high school looks forward to their senior year. They look forward to spending time with their friends, and extracurricular activities such as sports, music concerts, spirit weeks, homecoming etc. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has forced students to endure a virtual school year and the class of 2021 is forced to miss out on traditional events and activities they have looked forward to. Being a senior in STAGE is one of those things.

Senior year in theatre is especially exciting for students because after years of participating in the shows, you finally have your chance to get a good part and also have one last year of fun with all of your theatre friends before you head off to college. Not getting that long awaited adrenaline rush of performing for the last time with a certain group of people is very disheartening and makes the school year even more unbearable. Personally, I have been looking forward to being a senior for so long, and I was so excited to participate in the fall and spring shows. However, the fall show is among many other extracurriculars that were canceled.

“It’s really sad that for our last year we aren’t able to participate in any shows (thus far),” senior Charlotte Jenkins said. “I was really excited to be with all my stage friends for the last time.”

It’s especially difficult for students from STAGE because theatre is just not the same virtually. Stage productions depend on teams working together physically on and off stage. It is unlikely that by the spring COVID will be completely gone, and everything will go back to normal. If there is a spring show, it will have to be virtual. Without an audience, actors miss out on the clapping, laughing, crying, etc. which makes it difficult for the actors to maintain energy throughout the show. There isn’t a lot of optimism for students this year, but I remain hopeful that the world will work itself out.