During the annual Marquette Theater Company (MTC) banquet on Saturday, April 26, Rebecca Young, theater director, announced the 2025-26 productions for MTC: “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” and “Seussical: the Musical.”
“Everyone seemed really excited, but the kids already suspected that we were doing Seussical, so I don’t think it was much of a shock,” Young said.
When considering the candidates for the upcoming musical, Young had to take into consideration the loss of many boys in MTC as most are graduating.
“We always have lots of girls, that’s never an issue, and someone threw out Seussical as an option mainly because most of those roles don’t have to be a specific gender,” Young said.
“Seussical: The Musical” weaves together multiple Dr. Seuss books, primarily, “Horton Hears a Who,” and “Horton Hatches the Egg,” which follow the story of Horton the elephant who is given the responsibility of keeping safe a speck of dust that houses a civilization of Whos and protect an egg all narrated by the “Cat in the Hat.”
“I’m super excited about our set because it can be big and crazy like the world of Seuss, and hopefully have some elementary school students because Seuss was a children’s author,” Young said.
Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a book that has been adapted into a play that follows the story of autistic 15-year-old boy Christopher Boone, who investigates the death of his neighbor’s dog, Wellington.
“It’s a really cool concept because it takes place in the mind of an autistic boy, so we’re seeing the world through his eyes a little bit,” Young said.
Lauren Williams, language arts teacher, covers “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” in the sophomore language arts classes.
“Sometimes, literature is people’s first exposure to autism, so I made sure that my students looked at some additional resources and viewpoints about autism,” Williams said. “One of my favorite quotes is ‘If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.’ Autism does not look the same for every student because it’s a whole spectrum.”
Williams said her son is also on the spectrum, so it is important to her to ensure that every student understands that what autism looks like for one person might not look the same for another.
Sophia Chirco, junior, was excited to hear about the productions for next year.
“I think it will definitely be very interesting but also emotional because I am a senior next year, so it’ll be my last production,” Chirco said. “Ms. B [Young] always tries to pick something new every year, and not just a new production, but the kind of production or the way we display it.”
Chirco said she is looking forward to “Suessical: The Musical” the most because of how lighthearted and beautiful it is.
Grey Burnett, junior, is part of the technical crew for MTC.
“I definitely think that both productions will make the cast and crew work in ways different than previous shows, especially with costumes and everything,” Burnett said.
While Burnett is on crew, they might audition for Suessical because it will be fun and exciting to put forward.
“I kind of want to audition also because it’s my senior year, and I feel like a chapter of my life is closing, especially since I won’t do this after senior year, and since theater has been a big part of my life since freshman year,” Burnett said.
