Get ready for a year packed with “automatic, systematic, and hydromatic” performances from the East Grand Rapids High School Drama Club.  The Drama Club announced the lineup  for the 2016-2017 season on September 17.  The lineup includes seven shows throughout the year, a mixture of annual shows and new seasonal plays.

While the Drama Club’s lineups have only been released for less than a week, many of the Drama Club’s members are already ecstatic.“The season lineup that we have this year is going to appeal to a lot of different people, and I think that will rally some more interest for people this year.”  said Paige Lang ‘18, Secretary of the Drama Club.

The Drama season will kick off with the annual Twenty four hour theatre, where students will write, direct, and perform original one act plays in the short time span of twenty four hours.  This will take place October 15th at 7:30 in the Little Aud. “I think a great way to get started in drama is Twenty Four Hour Theatre” said Lang.  “You can have fun with friends and make new friends within the Drama Program and you don’t need any experience.”

Another annual performances taking place this season is Theatre by the Numbers. Theatre by the numbers is an interactive performance where the audience chooses the order of student written poems, skits, and improv, taking place on December 2nd and 3rd at 7:30 in the Little Aud.

The Variety show is the final annual show taking place this season.  Directed annually by Mr. Kawel, it will take place on March 3rd and 4th.

The performances drawing the most attention are the seasonal plays.

A Christmas Carol, this year’s fall play, is the story of the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from a bitter, old man into a kindlier and gentler one. Auditions for the fall play took place September 19 and 20.  “I stepped into audition today and I saw some new faces, so that’s really good,” said Lang.  A Christmas Carol, which will be performed November 17, 18, 19 at 7:30 in the Little Aud.

The winter play is Parfumerie, a comedy that inspired She Loves Me and You’ve got mail. This years winter play will be directed by Errianna Rounds ‘17 and Erin Smith ‘17.

Overshadowing the fall and winter plays, is the Spring musical, Grease. However, many members of the drama club were originally reluctant to choose Grease as the spring musical. “A lot of high schools do Grease, so I don’t think they wanted to do it at first because they didn’t want to be like everyone else.” said Lang. Speculation also surrounded Grease because rumors suggested Drama Club teachers thought it was inappropriate. “I know that it has a lot of risque things in it, but so did chorus line, and after editing that stuff out, we figured that Grease was an okay thing to do.”  said Judith May Ernst ‘18, the Drama club President.

Even with the initial reluctance, members of the drama club are very excited to take on Grease. “I think that people will want to be those characters and go to Rydell High in the ‘50’s and just have a lot of fun doing Grease,” said Lang.