The highly awaited Reader’s Theatre production has come and gone with a bang.

This fall’s play was Mannie, a comedic update on the classic Annie.

The original Annie’s plot is about a young orphan who is on a mission to find her birth parents during the Great Depression. Many recognizable songs come from this play, including “It’s A Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow”.

This interpretation had many twists- the main character is actually Mannie, a boy disguised as a girl. Also, it was also relatable to people today, using modern slang and music, like a heartfelt song to the music of “Welcome to the Black Parade.”

The cast of the show genuinely enjoyed the reveal of the play they would perform, as it was a parody of one of their favorite musicals.

One of the main cast members is Gillian Rains, a resident actor in the school. She has been in three plays, including last fall’s Scooby Doo, and tech for a couple.

Rains has the role of Pickle, a peaceful little orphan that lives with Mannie.

“I think out of all the orphans, she is the one trying her hardest to keep the peace between everyone, said Rains. “She’s certainly not the leader, but I think she’s the one that holds all of them together.”

Rains has been apart of many of the school’s productions, but she thinks that this character was both hard and exciting to get into.

“I’ve played a lot of older, middle-aged characters, so playing a weird, loud child was kind of hard to get into,” said Rains. “Once I found her voice, though, I ended up having a blast playing her.”

“I think everyone should come to the show because it’s just an overall great time, said Rains. “It’s so much fun to prepare and perform, and we really hope the audience goes away remembering all the quips and the song parodies we came up with!”

The show turned out to be a success upon the students, especially the acting.

“There was a lot of thought put into the plays and how the actors presented their characters. The play was very interesting and funny,” said sophomore Megan Dang.

It also was agreed upon that the acting was very great and allowed the character to be shown in the spotlight.

“I thought that the play was very well performed and each character did a great job acting out their part. The play had a great storyline to it, and I really enjoyed it,” said Rebecca Castaneda.

Cast:

Noell Armstrong

Ben Baker

Lilith Biskup

Owen Bister

Ty Danzl

Josh Davis

Emilee Durbin

Maya Jimenez

Ellie Kurzrock

Karrin Letcher

Macy Lites

Molly Odell

Sadie Odell

Hayden Powell

Rachel Radcliffe

Gillian Rains

Grace Ramatici

Aaron Shackleford

Jake Vujovich

Kloe Walker