This is a contribution from a Swampscott High School student, as part of the Swampscott Tides Big Blue Student News selection. 

Swampscott High School’s annual summer theater program for middle school students and incoming Swampscott High School freshmen concluded on July 30 with a performance of Shrek the Musical: Kids.

The program, held each summer at the high school, ran every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from June 30 through July 30. Each session took place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., during which students learned about theater, participated in team-building games, and, of course, rehearsed for the final production.

The musical is a shortened adaptation of the Broadway show, which differs from the original 2001 movie. Shrek leads a cast of fairytale misfits on an adventure still to rescue the princess. After setting off to confront Lord Farquaad. with the wisecracking Donkey, Shrek is tasked with rescuing Princess Fiona to regain the privacy of his swamp. Shrek, however, goes on to try to win Fiona’s love and vanquish Farquaad.

This year’s behind-the-scenes team consisted of drama club and high school chorus Director James Pearse; drama club Assistant Director Kayla LeClerc; choreography director and rising senior Lila Rose-Schwartz; lighting engineer and rising sophomore Gia Ball; and camp counselors and rising juniors Kira Madruga and Ella Douillette.

Thursday’s performance drew a large audience, nearly filling the high school’s auditorium for the 11:30 a.m. show despite its shorter runtime of just over 30 minutes. The crowd included friends and family of the performers, as well as participants from Media Arts Teacher JoE Douillette’s neighboring film and TV club, which is also geared toward middle school students.