On Friday, July 15, the Tomorrow Youth Repertory (TYR) held its opening night of Heathers The Musical at The Academy of Alameda Auditorium. Five students from Encinal High School (EHS), two actors and three on tech crew, participated in the show.

“I cannot say how incredibly grateful I am for this amazing group of people,” said rising EHS sophomore and cast member Inky Arneson. “It’s hard to believe we put together this show in three weeks, and I’m not sure we could’ve done it if it wasn’t for this cast of wonderful humans. Heathers is a show that forces some uncomfortable but important topics into the spotlight and I’m so proud of the maturity the cast has shown.”

Arneson is an eight-year veteran of youth theater.

“My favorite part is being able to step away from myself for a couple hours and become a different character with hopes and goals different than mine. Theater is sort of an escape from our world and into another story, which I think is really cool,” said Arneson.

Heathers The Musical is the story of Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High, the Heathers. The musical is based on the cult movie of the 1980s starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater and written by Daniel Waters.

TYR will be performing three more shows of Heathers at The Academy of Alameda.

Update: The three remaining shows were originally scheduled for July 22 to 24. But TYR administrator Pam Arneson said the group had to postpone the second weekend of shows after the cast experienced a number of positive COVID cases this week. TYR is expecting to perform the remaining three shows on the weekend of July 29 to 31. The shows on Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30 will begin at 7 p.m., while the show on Sunday, July 31 will begin at 2 p.m. To purchase tickets, visit TYRHeathers.bpt.me. Tickets are $13 in advance ($7 for students/seniors) and $15 at the door ($10 for students/seniors). The Academy of Alameda is located at 401 Pacific Ave.

TYR was started in 2011. They offer multiple classes and camps to serve aspiring young actors. To learn more about TYR, visit http://tomorrowyouthrep.org.

Gabby Benaquista is an EHS student and staff member of EHS’ online news publication Encinal Horizon.