Wylie High School’s award-winning theater program performed one of its fall productions last week, recording better attendance than last year’s productions.

Director of Theatre Polly Harrison said Wylie High’s auditorium seats nearly 700 and both the Oct. 6 and Oct. 8 productions were nearly sold out.

She added that the students did a great job telling the story.

“Comedy can be very challenging to master and these young artists nailed the timing necessary to tell the story effectively,” Harrison said.

Preparations for this year’s production, “The 39 Steps” by Patrick Barlow, lasted for seven weeks since school began. Harrison has been the director at Wylie High for the past nine years.

This year’s production is about Richard Hannay and his quest to prove his innocence while uncovering a plot to sell British military secrets. A spy ring called The 39 Steps is behind most of the plot that takes place in England and Scotland.

Harrison said some of the main plot elements are adventure and intrigue as the story follows Mr. Hannay’s journey throughout the play.

“We gave our students a chance to explore a farce based on an Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name,” Harrison said. “The students enjoyed learning more about the source material and connecting it to the stage production.”

Sophomore Morgan McQueen, the show’s lead scenic designer, said it was challenging but fun to work on the set.

“We got to build things we haven’t built before,” Morgan said. “There are no how-tos or articles about building an A-frame ladder.”

Senior Jack Frye and sophomore Zachary Harrison said they tried to capture the time frame when designing the show’s lighting and sound. 

Jack said he focused on simple lighting to highlight the on-stage action. Zachary said he worked with junior Tanveer Sekhon to find noises, such as train engines, that were period appropriate for the show set in the 1930s.

Sophomore Chloe Stovall, who performed as the show’s radio announcer and as an ensemble member, said there was a bit of a learning process with the show to bring it to life.

“I have never done a show set in the ‘30s before and it’s been a very interesting learning process,” Chloe said. “Understanding how they acted then, how they dressed and how proper they were was very, very different than it is now.”

For the full story, see the Oct. 12 issue of The Wylie News.