For this year’s musical, the school’s theatre department will be putting on Hairspray from Jan.31-Feb.2, at the Mansfield ISD Center for Performing Arts (PAC).

“(Hairspray) has so many hidden meanings behind it,” sophomore Chloe Williams said. “There’s segregation and integration and sometimes there’s body issues. It just has so many good personal stories.”

Williams will be playing the lead role, Tracy Turnblad.

“I’ve seen all versions of Hairspray from the 1988 one to the 2016 one,” she said. “Once they announced at the banquet that we were doing Hairspray I studied all the parts, all the cast members and all the songs. I felt so bad for my family because I was blasting (the songs) 24/7.”

Director Melissa Danforth said Hairspray has been on the theatre department’s list of possibilities but that they’ve never had the kids to do it.

“This year felt like it was the right time,” Danforth said. “They’ve been theatre and choir kids for a while, so they understand the story and the importance of it.”

Hairspray will be the first play the school puts on which utilizes an orchestra since their production of Tarzan in 2016.

“I’m in charge of mics and making sure everyone can be heard,” junior Marwa Sultani said. “For a musical it’s the orchestra that plays the music in the pit, so my main job is making sure that those singing are heard over the instruments.”

Williams said that one of her favorite parts about getting ready has been working with the rest of the cast.

“Each one of our cast members is very talented in their own ways,” she said. “It’s beautiful seeing all this work come together and making a beautiful show.”

During rehearsals, Danforth sometimes told the cast stories about her experience with integration.

“I grew up in Lubbock and when I was in elementary school we were bused,” she said. “It was a big deal that the schools weren’t integrated. I remember my parents being scared because we were going to ‘the other side of town.’ That fear was real, and it was in my lifetime.”

Tickets are on sale for $10 at the door and the show runs for about two hours.

“With everything happening in the world it’s nice to sit down for a couple of hours and watch something cute,” Sultani said. “The songs are super catchy, and everyone is going to get with the program.”

Danforth said she hopes the experience will be a positive one for audiences.

She said, “It’s fun to look back now with this music,  these silly characters and this silly genre and be able to relate it to the fact that we’ve come so far as a society.”