Emma is looking forward to taking her girlfriend Alyssa to the big senior dance. But her school decided they would rather cancel the event than have a same sex couple attend in “The Prom.”
Highland Park Players is presenting the seven-time Tony-nominated musical Aug. 16-25 at McGrath Family Performing Arts Center in Wilmette.
Performances of the musical by Matthew Sklar (music), Chad Beguelin (lyrics and book), and Bob Martin (book) are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Aug. 24 and 25, plus a 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 preview show.
Fortunately, a quartet of fading Broadway actors, who are trying to prove they aren’t narcissists, come to the small Indiana town to take up Emma’s cause.
“Emma is spunky, courageous, kind, but a little shy,” said actor Hannah Kipp, who plays her. “She faces discrimination. She wants to take her girlfriend to prom and her town and community will not allow it. She struggles with learning how to stand up for herself and getting the acceptance of others.”
Emma discovers that she has an advocate in Barry Glickman, one of the Broadway actors who have come to her town in an attempt to right that wrong.
“Barry helps her find her courage and helps her learn how to be true to herself, to stand up for what’s right and so live out loud,” Kipp said.
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Kipp is genuinely pleased to play Emma.
“Getting to play a queer character is really special to me,” she said. “There’s not a lot of female queer roles in theater so I feel honored to play one as a queer person myself.”
She also appreciates “playing someone with such a big heart. There’s so much that anyone can relate to in Emma.”
Kipp believes that this show is more relevant now than ever.
“There’s still a lot of discrimination against the queer community, especially the queer youth,” she said.
Robin Trevino plays Barry, the actor who becomes Emma’s ally.
“He takes a journey from narcissism to self-actualization,” Trevino said of Barry. “He is a very fun and very nuanced character with a great deal of depth.”
Barry carries trauma from his childhood relating to the fact that he is gay, the actor said. “He hasn’t spoken to his mother in 30 years,” Trevino said. “He takes on this cause to go to Indiana to help this young lesbian girl and a lot of his trauma starts to resurface and he sees a lot of himself in this girl he’s trying to help.”
Trevino also believes that this show is particularly relevant today.
“I feel with the current political climate, the pendulum is swinging back a little,” he said. Prior to that, he added, same sex marriage was celebrated and polls showed people were more supportive of gay rights.
“’The Prom’ is really a celebration of the best parts of being gay and everything we’ve overcome,” Trevino said. “It takes a light approach to a very dark subject, which is why I love the show so much.”
“The music is so great. It kind of makes you want to get up and dance,” said director Lauren Katz. “But what’s really special about this story is there’s so much heart to it. At the root of it is a story about this high school woman who really wants to be seen for who she is by the people she loves and there’s so much standing in the way. Over the course of this story she learns how to use her own voice to speak up for what she needs.”
Katz praised the “amazing” cast, her music director Ken Preuss, and her choreographer Dominique Ruffalo. “It’s been an absolute joy collaborating,” she said. “We’re finding a unique way to tell the story.”
Seats are $25 for the Aug. 15 performance.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
‘The Prom’
When: Aug. 15-25
Where: Highland Park Players at McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 3424 Illinois Road, Wilmette
Tickets: $30-$45
Information: 224-212-0477; highlandparkplayers.org