SPRINGFIELD EYES WAY TO HONOR SAFETY CITY CREATOR
Musical written by two local students premieres this week.
“Sticky Note” has stuck around for the long haul. The original coming-of-age musical written by two local high school students had the misfortune of being scheduled to premiere when the pandemic struck and settled for a virtual version.
Springfield High School student Tim Compston, who wrote the music along with Kenton Ridge student Eleni Linardos, who wrote the dialogue, wasn’t about to give up and suggested the title for a future presentation to his drama teacher, Jeff Horst. An impressed Horst posted “Sticky Note” to lead off the 2021-2022 Wildcat Theatre Season.
“Sticky Note” will have its live on-stage premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Springfield High Wildcat Stage.
Compston, who spent many years performing before getting more interested in behind-thescenes work, said the idea for “Sticky Note” came to him in a dream. He and Linardos talked about their ideas and came up with the show, making the dream
reality.
“Sticky Note” is about six arts school students who discover mysterious sticky notes on a bulletin board with inspirational song lyrics. There’s mystery as to who left them, causing friendships to fall apart and come back together as the music expresses their feelings.
“It’s a coming-of-age story, a culmination of everything you went though or are going through. It’s the high school experience and being OK with yourself,” said Compston, now a senior.
The Springfield Arts Council scheduled the show to be its youth musical at the 2020 Summer Arts Festival and performed by the Youth Arts Ambassadors. The festival was eventually canceled due to the pandemic and performed virtually by the Ambassadors.
While grateful for the chance, Compston admitted it was still disappointing not to see his vision as intended. He went to Horst at the end of last school year, found him intrigued, and the two modified what was a two-act show into one.
“It has become three-dimensional,” said Horst. “We’ve changed some lyrics and lines to make it for the stage. It’s been really great collaborating with Tim. It’s like working with a living playwright in the room with you.”
“Sticky Note” will be a small ensemble piece of 10 with all four grades represented. The show lasts an hour.
Some songs will go with recorded music and on others Compston will accompany live on keyboards, and a new lightboard will enhance the experience.
Although she’s not involved in this production, Compston has kept Linardos in the loop about its progress and the changes. It may not be the last you hear of “Sticky Note” as Compston plans on working to round it out in the future.
Doors open at 6:15 p.m. before each performance and admission is at the door and costs whatever an attendee wants to pay. Or attendees can donate toiletries such as new toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, soap or something similar to go to Second Harvest Food Bank.
In keeping with Springfield City School requirements, masks must be worn in buildings and seats will be socially distanced.
The Wildcat Theatre Season will be a different live theater experience for the area. Whereas most high school programs present a drama in the fall and a musical in the spring, this consists of four shows.
Following “Sticky Note” will be three shows at the John Legend Theater starting with “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” made up of 30 two-minute plays in 60 minutes, Nov. 18-20; “Antigone by Sophocles,” Jan 20-22; and the spring musical “Once on This Island,” April 21-23.