In the Middle Park High School auditorium, the laughter of 40 students echoed off the walls. One at a time, with microphones taped to their faces, the leads stepped on stage for mic checks.<\/p>\n
It was a week before opening night for \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d and they were working through a tech rehearsal.<\/p>\n
Senior Henry Kacik sat in the back row next to a complicated set up of computers. This is Kacik\u2019s ninth show at Middle Park, and he is the technical director for the school\u2019s upcoming musical.<\/p>\n
The show has been the product of everyone\u2019s hard work, but he and the other students involved are excited to see it all come together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the audience finally comes in that is incredibly rewarding,\u201d Kacik said. \u201cTo see them watch the story and see how they react is really rewarding in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The famous musical centers on the poor dairyman Tevye (played by junior Cesar Arreguin), his wife Golde (senior Kayla Davis) and their five daughters as the family wrestles with changing societal values and growing anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia during the early 20th century.<\/p>\n
Christal McDougall is the director of the show. In Fiddler, one of the main conflicts relates to the evolution of tradition. McDougall, who is in her third year as the theater director at the school, said that theme relates to her relatively new role at the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have traditions in the program, old and new,\u201d McDougall said. \u201cIt gives everyone such a sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The theater\u2019s popularity at the school has increased dramatically in the past couple years. She attributed part of the growth to support from the school\u2019s administration and generous donations from the community.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just high school students performing in this show; three middle school students are also participating. Sixth-grader Vallie Mace plays one of Tevye\u2019s daughters alongside her sister in the show and in real life, sophomore Collette Mace.<\/p>\n
Vallie said being in a high school production has been a great experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I have high school friends,\u201d Vallie said. \u201cAt football games they all say hi to me, and it\u2019s really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
This show is junior John Luna\u2019s first with the theater program. He said it has been memorable performing in such a poignant show.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to \u2018Fiddler on the Roof\u2019 because it\u2019s three hours where you will honestly forget that you are you and you can forget all your problems,\u201d Luna said.<\/p>\n
As Kacik begins applying for college to study theater lighting and production, every application asks why he wants to pursue theater. To him, producing \u2018Fiddler\u2019 and shows like it allow him to share a story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to tell a story because I believe true stories change people,\u201d Kacik said. \u201cI think \u2018Fiddler on the Roof,\u2019 at its core, holds a very tragic, tragic story\u2026 I want to be able to tell good stories to try and change people for the better. I\u2019m hoping people will come see \u2018Fiddler on the Roof\u2019 and think about it a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. each evening. There is also a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. East Grand School District students are free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the Middle Park High School auditorium, the laughter of 40 students echoed off the walls. One at a time, with microphones taped to their faces, the leads stepped on stage for mic checks. It was a week before opening night for \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d and they were working through a tech rehearsal. Senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-04 00:30:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34667,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34635\/revisions\/34667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}