On February 24, 2024, at approximately 9:30 p.m., after “Matilda the Musical, Jr.” had closed and strike was done, the play and musical were announced. Although the names weren’t supposed to be dropped until March 8, someone very convincing (thank you Maya Marques ’26) persuaded Theater Director Siouxsie Easter and Technical Designer Eric Tysinger to tell the excited cast.
First up, the 2024 fall play: “The Play that Goes Wrong.”
“The Play That Goes Wrong” is one of the most hilarious plays to ever grace the stage of Broadway. It follows the story of a few actors who have everything that could possibly go wrong, go wrong. From props and set breaking to actors fighting on stage and getting injured, the play is hysterical.
“I’m most excited to tackle the comedic timing,” Easter said. “I love comedy and comedic timing… and it is hard to learn… so I’m really looking forward to that. There are also a lot of stunts in this, so I think we’re gonna need some stunt coordination, which will be really cool.”
“I’m really excited,” Marques said. “It’s fun… People get hurt during it. I like getting hurt.”
Next the 2025 spring musical: “SIX: Teen Edition.”
“SIX” follows the story of the six wives of Henry VIII, as they tell their story through song and dance. Although it is originally performed with only six women in the cast portraying the queens, the teen edition has an additional ensemble added that will allow the cast to be larger and better suited for a high school performance.
“SIX is exciting for many reasons, but one of them is that we will be one of the first few schools in Texas to present the show… The show will also feature our very own Melanie Settle (MS Band Teacher) as the band’s leader and drummer,” Tysinger said.
While Easter is excited about directing the phenomenon that is SIX, she’s also worried.
“There’s some really crazy competition going on [with SIX casting]… and I don’t want anyone to be scared to audition because of that… I want everyone to come out and audition. We’re going to have a couple of huge dance numbers that everyone will be in,” Easter said.
Priscilla Lambis ’25 has done all six shows during her high school career, and plans to do the “Play that Goes Wrong” and “SIX: Teen Edition” next year as her senior shows.
“I’m a little bit nervous about “SIX” because I’ve never seen the high school version, because we’re [only] the second high school to do it in Fort Worth [with The Hockaday School being the first just this year],” Lambis said.
“SIX: Teen Edition” is very new, with the script and the rights to use it coming out in parts of Europe in April 2022 and in the United States a bit after.
Last school year, the CAST sponsored a theater department trip to see SIX at Winspear Opera House. Many of those who will be auditioning for the school show had the opportunity to go on this trip too.
Although audition dates are not out yet, students can expect an audition form for “The Play that Goes Wrong” before the school year is over (likely late May, maybe early June), and the audition form for “SIX: Teen Edition” will come out after “The Play that Goes Wrong” closes, likely late October, possibly early November.
To prepare for auditions, read over the sides (snippets of the scenes) that you might be asked to read so that you are familiar with them, watch or read the show online (Youtube usually has some great recorded shows), learn your music and be prepared to sing with JUST the instrumental (for “SIX: Teen Edition” specifically), and be ready to have fun. Auditions should be a little scary, but more exciting than anything.
