If the cold weather has been getting you down, come to both the fall play and musical to bring a little sunshine into your life. There are lights, people, dancing, and singing. Laughter comes from all around the audience as a show is being performed on the stage. The show will either be the not so spontaneous lines of George Spelvin in “The Actor’s Nightmare” or the story telling songs of Justin in “21 Chump Street.”

The fall play is a little different than in the years past. This year there is going to be two fall productions. One of which is a musical called “21 Chump Street” by Lin-Manuel Miranda and the other a play called “The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang. The auditions were held in the beginning of October, and they started rehearsing soon after.

The cast and stage crew worked and practiced until the performances on the 25, 26 and 27 of October. The two productions are both relatively short and different. “I am excited about seeing all our work come together,” Freshman and stage crew member Julie Test said.

“The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang is a comedic play about a man named George Spelvin, played by junior Isaac Warshaw. He is surprised when a stage manager, played by freshman Celeste Lopez, tells him that he is the understudy to a play they are putting on. George Spelvin is rushed into a show and he doesn’t know any of his lines or why he is there. Throughout the duration of “The Actor’s Nightmare” it shows what Spelvin does to get through the play. Other key roles are played by sophomore Gabe Logan, junior Tandy Weeks, and sophomore Grayson Schementi.

“21 Chump Street” by Lin-Manuel Miranda is a musical. It is about a high school student named Justin Laboy, played by sophomore William Ehrlich, who has a crush on a transfer student named Naomi Rodriguez, played by Isabella Gomez. Through the story Justin Laboy tries to buy drugs through his cousins, played by junior Gigi Lopez, junior Celeste Gerbaulet Vanasse and sophomore Spencer O’Brien. Even though there are two seperate casts and shows the lead Will Ehrlich says, “we are very complementary, and we do practice on the same days, but we step back to give each other space to work.”

The fall play has been a tradition at Parker, but for the last twenty years Drama and Performing arts chair Leslie Holland-Pryor has directed the fall plays and other productions. Holland-Pryor was a professional actor and director before becoming a teacher. She worked in different performances like in Steppenwolf Theater, but also on television. “I have a reputation in this city for my work ethic,” Holland-Pryor said. She still gets offers, but mostly puts her work ethic into teaching her students.

While choosing the plays Holland-Pryor said, “It is important as an educator to teach through different lenses.” This year while picking the plays she kept this in mind. At first they were going to do “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time,” but did not get the rights to perform it. “I was scrambling to find something at the last minute that was fun,” Holland-Pryor said. Holland-Pryor makes the best out of what happens and still makes it a strong performance. “She gives us honest feedback on what we do well in and what we do bad in,” freshman and fall play actor Celeste Lopez said.

Holland-Pryor has done plays by Christopher Durang at Parker like “Baby With The Bath Water” and she chose his play “The Actor’s Nightmare” because of the witty humor. Then, she decided to do a companion piece. She wanted to find the opposite view of life from “The Actor’s Nightmare,” and so she chose “21 Chump Street” by Lin-Manuel Miranda. While teaching, Holland-Pryor has her students also watch and study other productions. “She told us to look at other plays and schools and pull our characters from there.” Will Ehrlich said.

Holland-Pryor had worked with many of the student actors before either from different shows or in her classes. “My favorite part of being in the fall play is being under Ms. Holland-Pryor’s work,” Celeste Lopez said, “and working under a real experienced actress.” While working she develops special bonds with her actors, and they do with each other. She describes working with them as “like working with professional actors except they talk too much,” Holland Pryor said.