This year, Potosi High School’s spring play will be Illinois Jane and the Pyramid of Peril, an action-adventure comedy following cartographer extraordinaire Illinois Jane and her reluctant sidekick Sid on a quest to recover the lost tablet of an Egyptian pharaoh and the map to a long-lost pyramid containing the secret to immortality.
Amy Siegert, the director of the play, used to be involved in college and community theatre. She also has a history of directing several plays when in college and in her early teaching years at two different schools, however, this play will be her first time directing again in a while. “I chose this play because I didn’t want to bite off more than I can chew; it’s my first time directing a full production since 2002,” Siegert said, “With that being said, I know how much work it takes to put on a quality show, and I really want to concentrate on good acting and comedic timing, so I picked a play with a smaller cast size.”
With this play being based on Indiana Jones, it is purely going to be a comedic parody and a light-hearted watch with no overarching moral to the story. However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to it. “It’s always really entertaining and inspiring to see ‘non-theatre’ people take to the stage and show you a different side to themselves, and that is truly what I hope we can do with this show. I hope that lots of people will come to check it out and walk away with this message: ‘That was funny. That was clever.' Everybody should be in a play like that at least once in their lifetime!”
This play will require a lot of time and effort from the cast, but it will be a fun and enjoyable experience and will lead to an excellent performance from everyone. “I think I’m most excited to see how the different cast members come together to put on this production because it involves some strong characterizations and nifty special effects,” Siegert said, “It will be neat to see how our students challenge each other to carry out the storyline and bring these really fun characters to life!”
If you are interested in seeing the final result of all of the effort put in by this amazing cast and director, Illinois Jane and the Pyramid of Peril officially opens on Saturday night, March 26, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. and closes with a matinee on Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.