Duncanville Theatre is rounding off the end of the first semester with a special production: Grease. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, students will be presenting the Grease musical consisting of not only acting but singing and dancing. They will put on four shows with tickets $7 per student and $10 for General Admission.

Being a musical, Grease was different from previous plays from the very beginning. Auditions were open to the whole school and consisted of dancing and singing. After the first day auditioning, directors then made callbacks where students read lines for specific characters. Over 60 students auditioned and some landed special roles. Taylor Bailey will play Sandy Dumbrowski and Jason Cordova will play Danny Zuko, the two lead roles.

While some of the actors and actresses performing in Grease are familiar with how a theatre production works, for some it will be their very first play. For Cordova, it will be only his second high school performance, but he does not lack experience.

“Being in band for six years has certainly helped me to overcome stage fright,” junior Jason Cordova said. “I enjoy all forms of performing, especially acting because it instills a certain sense of belief into yourself and others.”

On the other hand, Bailey has been in high school theater since her freshman year and is no stranger to the stage.

“I’ve wanted to do this with my life since I was four, it’s my first love,” senior Taylor Bailey said. “Theatre helped me find myself when I had forgotten who I was and I’ve loved every bit of it. It’s always crazy but whenever I wasn’t feeling my best, I put all that negativity into my character.”

Being only his second play and his first musical, this will be Cordova’s first lead role in a high school play.

“I play Danny Zuko, leader of the ‘Burger Palace Boys’, the bad boys of Rydell High. Danny has quite the experience with the ladies, due to his charisma and easy going style. But what his friends don’t know is that he has a soft, loving side. He tries to keep that part of himself a secret in order to maintain his ‘cool guy’ reputation,” Cordova said. “Preparing for this role was fairly simple, considering I’m quite the ladies man myself.”

The script for this performance of Grease follows the original movie as well as the recent live version. Students will portray characters similar to the ones in the well known productions.

“The way Sandy acts is really hard because I didn’t really know who she was besides a girl who chases after a boy. I had to realize that she has to be a part of me so the emotions I have in real life and the experiences I had go into her,” said Bailey

The cast for Grease includes a dancing ensemble as well as the Burger Palace Boys, the Pink ladies, and other familiar characters such as Patty Simcox and Eugene Florczyk.

“Rehearsing is intense because it’s singing, dancing, and acting,” Bailey said. “With non-musicals you just focus on acting, but Grease is everything at once and you have to be really focused.”

The first performance of Grease will be this Friday at 7 p.m. The Duncanville Theatre department hopes you will come out and support all the students who have worked hard to put this famous production together. “It’s rather exciting to perform in front of classmates and long time friends who have always shown me support and are excited for me,” Cordova said.

“Thank you to everyone who has been there to support me in everything that I do!”