For the upcoming production of Jekyll and Hyde, the theater building is bustling with activity as students prepare for the Oct. 26-28 showing, with senior Max Kuenzer starring as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and junior Jess Terry as Mr. Utterson.

This is Kuenzer’s second lead role this year, back in February he played the male lead in Nice Work If You Can Get It, and is now working hard again in this main role.

    From the view of the audience, all that is seen is the finished product, the show itself. For the students and directors of the show though, it means hours upon hours of work. This includes after school and weekend practicing, not to mention their own personal rehearsing at home to achieve perfection. Artistic Director Cassidy McQuiston said that, cast and crew spend an estimated 150 hours preparing, while directors spend about 250 hours, starting from the first day of school until opening night.

    “Some people think you can throw it together in one day,” Danny Lozano, Director of Choreography said.

    The show is harder than other plays Plano has put on, and the set is a lot bigger, along with having to deal with expensive props. The play is bigger and better than the average high school production.

    “There are a lot of different elements that go into making a show like this,” junior Angel Vasker said. “There’s a lot of money and work going into [the show].”

    The production itself is the version of the Jekyll and Hyde story most students read in their high school years, so the audience will see Victorian Era costumes and a higher-than-average technological Gothic London set. Costume designer Racey Ballard has been working diligently on creating Gothic-type Victorian costumes ranging through a wide variety of historically accurate social classes of the time period the story takes place in. Meanwhile, McQuiston and Ballard have been working hard on designing elaborate costumes.

    “Scenically we’re using a lot of technology,” McQuiston said. “We’ve got projectors, and the set itself is going to be more abstract which we’re really excited about.”

    The show overall promises to be amazing, with a run time of two and a half hours, including intermission. The dark, gothic operetta of Jekyll and Hyde will remind the audience of societal conformities, who they are as a person and how the world perceives the people around them. In a world of judgment coming in from all sides, this is an important lesson.