In an act vs act competition, Romeo and Juliet takes the win against “High School Musical” and will be the performance that Perry Theatre Company (PTC) will take to festivals to perform this year and represent the school itself.

The class of PTC prepared for two shows instead of the traditional one show, where it is a chance for “more opportunities to students by providing two one acts,” theatre studies teacher Randy Duren explains. It is a race to determine which act will be the face of the school as PTC performs two acts, in hopes of coming to a decision through the votes of the judges and audience to take to festivals to compete.

Being a “competition piece this year,” Duren said, at the end of the night, the winner was declared as the tragic, love story of Romeo and Juliet. The performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet took a distinct spin and moved in a 50’s vibe and setting, in contrast to the usual historic time period. With costumes and prop pieces set in that time era.

Following through the other side of love stories “[PTC did] a one act version of Disney’s High School Musical,” Duren indicates. Cheers from the crowd are heard as singing and dancing is involved with the overall performance, contrasting Romeo and Juliet.

However, despite getting less votes as Romeo and Juliet, “essentially the entire class is in both shows,” Duren said. Where “High School Musical” had fallen short, it is still a win for the school overall. The set list of songs from the popular movie were all sung and choreographed for the show to give an audience an enjoyable entertainment for the night of the showing.

Balancing between two distinct yet similar forbidden love stories, from singing to dancing is “about the most challenging stuff you could possibly ask,” Duren points out. 24 students of PTC have been preparing for the showing since the beginning of the school year. Practicing everyday after school dedicating time up to at least one hour.

Beloved, iconic lines were performed in both acts, but it was not hard to miss the other individuals behind the scenes “doing lights and sound and props for the show,” technical theater teacher Shawna Marquis said. As everything is all a puzzle piece effort to help run the show go smoothly. All components of what goes into the act is all imperative.

It is another part of theater that helps “bring the show alive through art,” Marquis adds. With staying behind late up to 8:30 at night after school near the dates of the show. Technical theatre students have been working together backstage and diligently working three to five days a week. Each and every student is a help in which the show can never have any less of.

It is “lots of work but is worth it because you get to see the set come alive,” technical theatre and senior Grant Pemberton illustrates. The comradery that both the technical students and PTC members create is prominent.

There is no “separation from PTC, [the tech students] see ourselves as PTC because Perry Theatre Company is all of us combined,’’ Pemberton includes, “lots of late nights, lots of hard work, lots of sleep deprived stressful nights.’’ Every student involved with the acts rely on one another since there is the matter of stage direction and movement. To know when to clean the stage before the next scene, exhibiting teamwork all together.

The end product and work produced is substantial, but “you get extremely proud of the work you do,’’ Pemberton comments. It is a lot of effort that is put into the shows to let the audience at this school enjoy a performance for a few hours and be entertained for the night. Everything plays a huge role, with everyone involved all having an essential and key job to help the show run smoothly and be the best as it possibly can be.