Students at Green Bay East High School are getting hands-on production experience from working professionals as they prepare the school's latest musical.
Members of the school's production tech club are rehearsing 'Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1812,' which the school describes as the biggest musical it has done. The show runs over the next two weekends, on Fridays and Saturdays.
The students are working through a long-running partnership with Green Bay's CCCP, a Tusker Company, and other professionals. Mentors help students use industry lighting, audio and video equipment, including a video suite above the school's historic auditorium that had been dormant for nearly two decades before being brought back into use this summer.
Mentors and school leaders said the value is in students learning to work together while handling real production tasks, from building sets to hanging lighting. Some former students have gone on to work in the industry after taking part at the school, according to the mentors.
Principal Lisa Lipp said she appreciates both the students' work on stage and the staff and volunteers who give time to support the productions.
