At WHS, students are typically well-informed of the plays and musicals the theatre group will be presenting. Many students show their support by attending the productions and cheering on those who make it happen. This time, however, one of the school’s own staff members participated in a musical on her own time.

“I was in ‘9 to 5: the Musical,’ which was all written by Dolly Parton, at East Central Community College,” choir teacher Jessie Patterson said.

Although she enjoyed participating in the musical, it was not without its challenges. 

“[Choir is] in full contest season time, so I would leave from [the high school] about 4:30 and then run home, and I would make dinner really quick and then run to rehearsals,” Patterson said. “We had rehearsals three nights a week from 6:30 to 9, and in the last two weeks, we had it every night until question mark at night, until we were done, so… it was definitely a challenge, but it was for sure worth it.”

Although Patterson has performed in other musicals in the past, she said that ‘9 to 5’ was her favorite.

“It was really challenging, and we had a lot of really cool costumes,” Patterson said. “I love Dolly Parton, so all the music was really fun, and I got to play Missy Hart, who was this really wonderful rich lady who wore a giant fur coat, so it was a lot of fun to be that kind of persona.”

Patterson also enjoyed being able to improve herself through performing.

“I love doing acting and musicals and that kind of thing because it makes me a better teacher,” Patterson said. “I get to learn from other directors and work with different people and learn how they do shows, what makes a show great to them, because everyone has a different idea. When I do shows, I get to learn from them, and that makes me a better director, a better performer and a better teacher when I come back.”

She also had fun with the social aspect of performing.

“I love working with different types of people. It was a large cast and they had ages ranging from 14 to about 68 years old,” Patterson said. “Being a large demographic of people, it was really neat to work together for a bigger purpose and to create art together, something larger than ourselves.”

Patterson felt that musicals can be a worthwhile undertaking, even for those who are not interested in acting or singing.

“I recommend everybody at least try one. If they’re not into musicals, if they don’t want to be onstage, there’s always opportunities to be hands-on backstage or playing in the pit orchestra or being house crew, something like that,” Patterson said. “I always recommend that you at least try something out of your comfort zone and try something new, because it’s super rewarding and I wouldn’t be able to [act] if I wasn’t out of my comfort zone a little bit. Try something new.”