This year’s fall musical is The Lion King, and the theatre group held a lock-in rehearsal earlier this month to help get ready. Several members came early to start creating lion and lioness masks, and rehearsal started at 4:00. The musical will be performed for the public on Dec. 2 and 4.

“The group worked very hard and had a lot of fun,” senior John Cocking said. “Most of the group got little to no sleep, though.”

With a couple of breaks for snacks and sandwiches for supper, the group rehearsed until after 1:00 am. While some of the group settled in for a few hours of sleep, some stayed up for several more hours.

“I got up about 4:00 am to go to the restroom, and a bunch of the kids had just had ice cream sundaes and were still up,” director Melonie Menefee said. “I don’t know how they were still awake.”

The group may have not gotten through the whole play, but the students still thought it was very helpful.

“We got a lot further than we had previously,” junior Lindsey Hardin said. “We also made improvements to what we had already practiced.”

The group said they had a lot of fun getting to see their friends and are really looking forward to the next lock in.

“I had a really great time,” freshman Hunter Fulmer said. “We got a lot done and I got to see my friends. I am definitely looking forward to next time.”