With the school year winding down and work on the spring musical finally finished, the theater department has begun planning for next year. As always, there will be four major productions: the children’s play early in the year, the fall play in November, the rookie showcase in the third quarter and the spring musical in May. 

Next year’s children’s play will be “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Theater department chairman Mr. Michael Moffatt said, “It’s a play with music, so it has a little bit of music in it. It’s not like a musical, but there is singing, like the Oompa Loompa song and the familiar songs from the musical.”

The fall play in November will be “Puffs,” a Harry Potter spoof. Moffatt said, “A play like ‘Puffs’ is going to be really popular just because of the nature of how (the theater department) is going to do it. (The theater department) is going to really try to get that Harry Potter feel with the set.”

Although it will keep its low stakes atmosphere, some changes are coming to the rookie show. Moffatt said, “It used to be a bunch of small scenes, but we’re going to do maybe a bigger production for the rookie show since we don’t have as many directors.” The show will be chosen once more is known about how many students audition.

The 2018 Tony best musical nominee “SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical” will be next year’s spring musical. Moffatt said, “‘SpongeBob’ is a really fun show because the design that goes along with it really doesn’t look like the animated series. It recreates the vibe of the animated series without just looking like a plastic version of SpongeBob. A lot of the music is new. They pulled some of the music from the show, like ‘The Best Day Ever.'” Most of the music is original for the show, however.

Moffatt said he is excited about this production based on his own love for the show. He said, “I’m a big fan of SpongeBob only because my kids watched it, and I was like ‘this is genius.’ They throw some stuff in there for adults, too, so that’s fun.”

Moffatt said he is hopeful for the potential of next year’s theater program. He said, “Next year we’re expecting a bigger turnout for casting.”