By Eliza Kreske
Eight boys from the Pioneer basketball program found themselves putting on a new kind of performance these past two weekends as they performed in Pioneer Theater Guild’s High School Musical.
High School Musical is a Disney original movie that many teens today, like sophomore Emma Bullock, would describe as a classic. “It makes everyone happy,” she said. The musical is about a group of high schoolers that break through high school stereotypes when the smartest nerd and the star on the basketball team star in the school play.
The Pioneer Theater Guild put on the musical during the beginning of November. The directors recruited eight members of the Pioneer men’s basketball program to help perform as basketball players from the fictional basketball team, the East High Wildcats. At first several of the basketball players were extremely against the idea.
“We were all really opposed to doing it,” said senior Jacob Williams, with a smile. “We were like, singing? Really?”
Despite his initial opposition, Williams eventually agreed to do it. “I was the last one to agree to it,” he said. “The directors kept saying ‘come on man we want you to do this’ and I just said fine, I’ll do it.”
No one could have expected what a beneficial experience it would be for both the players and the play.
Senior Jack Fitzgerald agrees with Williams that it was a valuable experience for the basketball players. “It was a really good time,” Williams said. “We loved it.”
“I’ve never done anything like that,” Fitzgerald said. “We got to experience something really fun as a team.”
The director, Ben Ahlers, and the producer of the show, Alex Leydenfrost, were excited at the idea of using the basketball team. Leydenfrost says their goal was to extend theater to more people in the school. “We felt that it was important to start a new leadership for the Pioneer Theater Guild,” he said.
Although not every basketball player was a part of the play, those who did felt they became closer over the experience. “Those of us who were in it bonded,” Williams said. “We got a lot of downtime. Some of us would go sing with the rest of the people. It was really fun.”
Basketball players are used to spending time on a their own kind of stage. Williams and Fitzgerald both say that basketball is more unpredictable than being on stage. “It’s a different type of being nervous,” Fitzgerald said. “At least with theater, you know how to do what you’re messing up. With basketball you never know what could happen.”
Williams said he felt strange while dancing on stage, but in the end he felt he just had to embrace it. “We felt stupid, I just kept thinking ‘I know I look dumb’,” he said with a chuckle. “You can just look at the person next to you and laugh, because you know you look just as stupid.”
Not only the basketball team feel appreciated by the audience, but they found everyone in Theater Guild was grateful for their participation as well. “All of the theater kids were super grateful,” Williams said. “They kept saying, thanks for being a part of the show, we really appreciate it.”
Williams found himself overwhelmed by the support. “I said appreciate the show, you don’t have to thank me,” he said.
Leydenfrost says there was no difficult part about working with the basketball team. “Ben Ahlers, the director, constantly commented about how respectful they were,” he said. “They were truly team players.”
Eight boys from the Pioneer basketball program found themselves putting on a new kind of performance these past two weekends as they performed in Pioneer Theater Guild’s High School Musical.
High School Musical is a Disney original movie that many teens today, like sophomore Emma Bullock, would describe as a classic. “It makes everyone happy,” she said. The musical is about a group of high schoolers that break through high school stereotypes when the smartest nerd and the star on the basketball team star in the school play.
The Pioneer Theater Guild put on the musical during the beginning of November. The directors recruited eight members of the Pioneer men’s basketball program to help perform as basketball players from the fictional basketball team, the East High Wildcats. At first several of the basketball players were extremely against the idea.
“We were all really opposed to doing it,” said senior Jacob Williams, with a smile. “We were like, singing? Really?”
Despite his initial opposition, Williams eventually agreed to do it. “I was the last one to agree to it,” he said. “The directors kept saying ‘come on man we want you to do this’ and I just said fine, I’ll do it.”
No one could have expected what a beneficial experience it would be for both the players and the play.
Senior Jack Fitzgerald agrees with Williams that it was a valuable experience for the basketball players. “It was a really good time,” Williams said. “We loved it.”
“I’ve never done anything like that,” Fitzgerald said. “We got to experience something really fun as a team.”
The director, Ben Ahlers, and the producer of the show, Alex Leydenfrost, were excited at the idea of using the basketball team. Leydenfrost says their goal was to extend theater to more people in the school. “We felt that it was important to start a new leadership for the Pioneer Theater Guild,” he said.
Although not every basketball player was a part of the play, those who did felt they became closer over the experience. “Those of us who were in it bonded,” Williams said. “We got a lot of downtime. Some of us would go sing with the rest of the people. It was really fun.”
Basketball players are used to spending time on a their own kind of stage. Williams and Fitzgerald both say that basketball is more unpredictable than being on stage. “It’s a different type of being nervous,” Fitzgerald said. “At least with theater, you know how to do what you’re messing up. With basketball you never know what could happen.”
Williams said he felt strange while dancing on stage, but in the end he felt he just had to embrace it. “We felt stupid, I just kept thinking ‘I know I look dumb’,” he said with a chuckle. “You can just look at the person next to you and laugh, because you know you look just as stupid.”
Not only the basketball team feel appreciated by the audience, but they found everyone in Theater Guild was grateful for their participation as well. “All of the theater kids were super grateful,” Williams said. “They kept saying, thanks for being a part of the show, we really appreciate it.”
Williams found himself overwhelmed by the support. “I said appreciate the show, you don’t have to thank me,” he said.
Leydenfrost says there was no difficult part about working with the basketball team. “Ben Ahlers, the director, constantly commented about how respectful they were,” he said. “They were truly team players.”