Wildcat Theatre proudly opened its fall show, The Three Musketeers, with opening night, October 8, and the monumental cast performed the two-act play.

The Three Musketeers, by Ken Ludwig, is a dramatic comedy that tells the story of young D’artagnan who sets off on an adventure, along with his headstrong sister, Sabine, to join the Three Musketeers in the noble life of protecting the king and queen of France against the evil Cardinal Richelieu, who is set on seizing the king’s throne. With the help of the cunning Milady, the Cardinal manifests a scheme that will ruin the Queen’s reputation and bring war on France. D’artagnan soon bumps into the beautiful Constance Bonacieux, one of the queen’s servants, who falls in love with the young adventurer. The Three Musketeers undergo intense journeys through love and loss, friendship and family, and the adventure of a lifetime.

“The story of The Three Musketeers is well known but performing it with a high school cast brought a whole new meaning to it,” Vanessa Brown, a junior, who played the role of Septime, said.  “My favorite part of the process was seeing my friends bring their own personalities into these famous characters and bringing this story to life.”

Brown is also the treasurer of Drama Club, who has performed in Wildcat Theatre’s previous shows since freshman year, such as the lead role as Amelia Davis in the UIL show, The Girl in the White Pinafore, which won third place at the district level and advanced to bi-district.

The Head Director of The Three Musketeers, Jennifer Alcala, along with Matthew Samson, the Tech Director of the show, directed the cast including Tanner Loyd, junior, as D’artagnan; Greyson Kramm, junior, as Athos; Julius Bob, freshman, as Aramis; Grayson Schreiber, sophomore, as Porthos; Julia Ellisor, sophomore, as Sabine; and Zoey Osborne, senior, as Milady/Sophie. According to Adriana Sweet, who played Constance Bonocieux, both Kramm and Loyd were a lot like their characters.

“Tanner is really similar to D’artagnan because he’s really kind, compassionate, and caring just like D’art,” Sweet said. “Grayson is that overly dramatic comic relief that everyone needs every once in a while.”

Stage Manager, Hannah Van Cise, led rehearsals, recorded all light and sound cues, managed placements of set pieces and props, and directed all the technical heads with the help of the Assistant Stage Manager, Allie Rea. The crew of the fall show featured Ethan Baur as head of lights, Peter Blair as head of sound, Trevor Gidney as head of props, head of grips (moving set pieces), Tank Prochaska, and Lily Berger as head of costumes.

“I like that head of props provides a crucial part of the show that is needed to keep the show really going and having the right equipment to do so,” Gidney said.

Lily Berger, only a freshman, organized the cast’s costumes, by pulling pieces from the elaborate costume closet and renting others.

“It’s been a really good learning experience and it’s been really exciting because every day has been something new,” Berger said.

Allie Rea, a senior and the assistant stage manager, trained Berger in all thing’s costumes, from measuring actors to designing hair and makeup looks, Rea showed Berger the ropes of the Wildcat Theatre Department.

“I love Allie so much,” Berger said. “She taught me how to stand up for myself.”

Though many of the lead roles consists of upperclassmen, Bob landed the role of Aramis, the noble, romantic musketeer, as a freshman.

“Being a freshman in a lead role feels like a lot of pressure, but it also feels like a sense of validation and I’m getting a lot of support,” Bob said.

The sound sector of the production featured the help of Greyson Kramm, who also plays the role of Athos, the brooding, mysterious musketeer. He created musical transitions for several scenes in the play, with his own equipment. Kramm is a published artist, known as NonProdigy, and dutifully created the soundtrack for The Three Musketeers as well as last year’s fall show, A Chemical Imbalance.

“I definitely want to make more scores. I’m a story-teller first and foremost, and there’s so much storytelling you can do with a piece of music of mostly any genre,” Kramm said. “That’s why I love scoring so much, because I get to essentially write my own story.”

The actors learned how to sword-fight and choreograph scenes with other stage combat techniques from H. Ross Brown, a professional director and fight coordinator.

“H. once took off his gloves and slapped me in the face because I told him that I was scared to drop the sword,” Julia Ellisor, a sophomore who played Sabine, said.

The shows were on Oct. 8, 9, 15, and 16, while the matinee 14’s show is presented to Clear Creek Intermediate. As The Three Musketeers performs in October, much of the cast prepares for the upcoming musical, The Addams Family, opening in January.