‘Mean Girls’ production graces NHS stage for four days in March

NHS Musical Director Susan Dillard leads the crew through a rehearsal of one of the show’s musical numbers.
Reminder Publishing photos by Trent Levakis.

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton High School Theatre Department is bringing the burn book to the stage in its upcoming spring musical production of “Mean Girls: High School Version.”

The high-energy rock musical is based on the 2004 Mark Waters film about school hardships, superficiality and the triumph of genuine friendships. Packed with sharp humor, big dance numbers and unforgettable one-liners, Mean Girls spotlights the best — and worst — of high school cliques.

The production will feature a live pit band and a cast of 46 NHS students, and organizers promise a production that can simply be described as “so fetch.”

“Mean Girls: The High School Version” will run from Thursday, March 12, to Sunday, March 15. The show begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The musical centers on Cady, a teenage girl who transfers to a public high school after being homeschooled her whole life in Africa. At school, she befriends outsiders Janis and Damian, who persuade her to infiltrate the “Plastics,” a clique consisting of wealthy but insecure Gretchen, sweet but dimwitted Karen and “Queen Bee” Regina.

Musical Director Susan Dillard and Director Dave Grout, who have been with NHS theatre since 2023, are leading the production. Amherst-based dance teacher Zazie Tobey is leading the choreography.

Dillard, an NHS alum and former member of its theatre program, told Reminder Publishing that the upcoming production has big plans, including wildly creative costumes, bold choreography and laugh-out-loud performances.

“Each year, when we’re thinking about what musical we should do, we think about the people that we have and what show fits our people first and foremost. I will say that in preparation for this year, we bounced around so many shows that all seemed like good fits at first, but eventually kind of fell away for one reason or another,” said Dillard. “It’s kind of funny, the students would separately come to Dave, come to me, asking, ‘have you guys ever thought about doing Mean Girls?’ and we were like, ‘we’re not doing ‘Mean Girls.’ But they kept chipping away at it, and the more we thought about it, the more we felt like we had the population that can fill the roles. And Dave had a vision he got excited about, so we decided to go with ‘Mean Girls.’”

Dillard shared that the production and direction of the show will have its own uniquely Northampton twist.

“We’re definitely making it our own version in the interpretation of the concept. From Dave’s vision, we’re doing this parallel or metaphor where the students at the high school are animalistic, and we’re going with this wild theme, like the Savannah. The plastics are predators, and other student bodies are potentially prey. So, there’s that element that kind of, we wanted to make it a little different from what you see on Broadway or other productions of it,” explained Dillard.

Organizers say that the theatre program can produce shows that are successful and unique because directors and students in the cast and crew spend a lot of time talking about the best approach to classic productions. Dillard explained that they consulted with students before auditions to talk with them about the show and its contents.

Following auditions, Dillard and Grout established a focus group, first with the cast members with the most lines. The group read through the script, and the time allowed anyone to speak up with any concerns or potential changes to the text.

“We read through the script and gave everybody a chance to speak to, ‘is this ok?’ Like the show is mean, it’s supposed to have bite, but how do we deal with it if you’re saying a line that makes you uncomfortable. And in a lot of cases, we had an honest conversation, and in general, we decided to keep a lot of what’s already in the script, and things that felt out of place, we had alternative suggestions put in,” Dillard said.

She continued, “It helps because Dave and I, we would read through the script and say this is hilarious, but also, our students are going to be saying these lines. We know they think it’s funny, but as soon as they’re the ones saying the line, or as soon as the line is being said about them, it could change. Anyone could be affected by that. After that conversation, we knew our kids could handle it, for lack of a better way of putting it; they really embraced it and took it seriously.”

Dillard expressed much gratitude for the group of talented student actors, singers, musicians, dancers, technicians and craftspeople who came together to make the musical happen.

As a former member of the program, Dillard said that the musical has always been special and close to her heart. She shared that she hopes the public will once again come out and support the talented youth in another highly anticipated spring production. She credited Grout for being a great collaborator and for leading the program as well as he does.

“I’m lucky to have Dave as a partner, and he is so experienced with this. It has become a collaborative effort for two faculty within the school,” said Dillard. “We know our students, and they know us. We have new students every year who are getting to know us, but it always just feels like a community that had such a strong foundation before us, that we both have been just so happy to step into and continue on together.”