BY NICK CORTEZ

Special to the Journal

It’s crunch time for members of the Turlock High School Drama Department. Rehearsals for their spring production, “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,” are in full swing. With opening night less than one week away, each job must be performed with precision. Vital players in this process include Ayden Day, Maya Fuentes, Logan Rocha, Elle Nitschke, and Michele VanNieuwenhuyzen. They are confident that die-hard fans of the franchise will love the show … and that people who’ve never heard the name Percy Jackson will, too.

At the top of the cast list is Day, portraying the musical’s titular character. Percy is a 12-year-old demigod, the son of a mortal woman and the Greek god Poseidon.

“It’s very different from other productions that we’ve put on,” said Day. “There are a lot of new technical aspects to the show. I don’t want to spoil it, but … it’s going to be a very good show.”

Drama teacher VanNieuwenhuyzen also commented on the show’s technical demands.

 “We had looked at “Percy Jackson” for a few years, and … one of the things that I was scared of was just the technical aspect of it. There’s a lot of tech that goes with it, and having the ability to kind of get that tech was something that I thought would make it much better than if we didn’t have the tech,” she said. 

Ultimately, that fear is why she chose the show.

“I tell the kids all the time: I choose shows based on whether it scares me to do it. Like, do I feel I’m probably not gonna be able to accomplish this? And then if that’s how I feel, I know that that’s probably a show I want to do because I want to push myself as a director to do things that stretch me as well as the kids.”

Another reason VanNieuwenhuyzen landed on “The Lightning Thief?”

“The kids were big fans. Like, big fans,” she said. 

Rocha, for example, plays Grover, a satyr – half human and half goat.

“I’ve loved ‘Percy Jackson’ – like the books – since I was in fourth grade, and Grover has always been my favorite character and since … I first started doing theater, I’ve always wanted to do this show in particular,” said Rocha.

When “The Lightning Thief” was announced as this year’s musical, he jumped at the chance to play Grover.

“I was like, ‘I want to play Grover so badly’ and so I started putting in the work,” said Rocha. “I started practicing the songs a year before I needed to just so I could have a good audition.”

Rocha jumped again when he found out he got the role.

“The day the cast list came out, I was sitting on my back couch for hours, just refreshing Google Classroom over and over and over again, and when I got the notification finally, I sprung up out of my seat and sprinted to my brother’s room to tell him, then sprinted back to the front door because I heard my mom get home from work, then sprinted to the back room to tell my step-dad. It was a very exciting moment, and honestly, the excitement hasn’t worn off and it’s been about three months.”

Fuentes was just as excited about her role. She plays Annabeth, daughter of the Greek goddess Athena.

“She seemed not too fictional, I guess. I felt like she was really real. She had a timid personality inside but was also very bold. She stuck out to me because I saw myself in her. I liked that she stood for what she believed in but also felt like there was some shyness there,” said Fuentes. 

These three roles may be the most prominent in the musical, but they’re not the only important ones in the production. Stage manager Nitschke said her job is to “just wrangle everything together” and “make sure everybody’s where they need to be at the end of the day.” She, along with the rest of the crew, handles the show’s ambitious technical effects.

“If I didn’t have my costumes and props managers, … I wouldn’t have costumes or props, and then the show would lose that depth,” said Nitschke.

Although this work can be exhausting, she likes stage managing because “you’re never bored there… there’s just so much goodness going on in there, and there’s so much love, and it sounds corny, but you can feel the love, and it’s pretty awesome.”

This was a common refrain about the theater community. 

“You’re pretty much guaranteed a solid friend group out of it,” said Rocha.

Fuentes echoed that sentiment.

“It just seemed like a big family. … It was just a place where everyone was friends, everyone supported you, and you can do what you love doing most.” 

That sense of community is one of VanNieuwenhuyzen’s primary goals in teaching drama at Turlock High.

“I think that one of the biggest things that I can say about theater itself is that it builds a community for sure. You have lifelong friends that you make.”

While all of these people love theater for the same reason, each hopes audiences will take away something different from the production. 

“I want people to know that even though Percy Jackson is definitely not a very well-known musical, and yes, we are following the famous Legally Blonde (from last year), it is still just as awesome in its own special ways, and you should definitely come and check it out,” said Nitschke.

“I want people to know how much passion is behind it. All of us love this show. … Everyone here is putting in the time. Everyone here is putting in effort. Everyone here is rereading chapters of the book to make sure we’re playing book-accurate adaptations. There’s just a lot of passion behind it, and I want people to feel that while we perform,” said Rocha.

“I want people to know that this show very much highlights people who have issues with their parents. That’s why I think this show is really realistic, because I feel like a lot of the songs in here touch on the emotions that people might have if they have a difficult relationship with any of their parents,” said Fuentes.

“This production is so much fun. There’s a lot of action. There are a lot of really cool things that we haven’t done before. So if you’re coming to the theater and you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’ve seen their productions before’ and if you are a fan of Percy Jackson, I think this is one that you really want to see because like I said, the kids are into it. I mean, they are really into it. And they’re showing that on stage with everything that they’re giving. But I think really just coming to the theater and knowing that we are doing justice to Percy Jackson,” said VanNieuwenhuyzen.

Tickets to see “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” are available by email at turlockhighdramaboxoffice@gmail.com, in the Turlock High activities office and the box office inside the theater. Shows are scheduled for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and April 10 and 11.

“If you’re a fan of the books, come watch,” VanNieuwenhuyzen said.  “And if you’re not, come watch and then become a fan of Percy Jackson because I think you will be after you see it.”