Monessen taking musical online

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

Monessen residents will have an opportunity to travel to a land far, far away without leaving the comfort of their homes when students take to the stage to virtually perform “Shrek The Musical” this week.

Long-time Monessen High School Musical Director Hilary Brown said she and her students were disappointed when they were forced to cancel the performance in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The show, scheduled for March 26-29, was canceled less than two weeks before opening night. 

“We were told by our district that we would be postponing until further notice on March 13,” Brown said. “Everyone was heartbroken at that point since we were only two weeks away from opening night. It wasn’t until after Gov. Tom Wolf made the announcement to make Westmoreland County go into the green phase that I approached the school board to possibly revisit performing the show.”

In all her years as director of the high school musical, this year has been unique. 

“I never thought this would be happening,” Brown said. “Not in a million years. 

“It was extremely stressful when we were told that we would be canceled. My heart just broke for my students, because all their hard work would be for nothing.”

But the pandemic didn’t stop her from trying.

“I made a promise to push for a performance for them before the end of the summer,” she said. “I met with our school board and superintendent and am grateful to all of them for being open-minded and allowing us to go forward with our show. 

“The arts are so important to our students and especially right now.”

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