Prior to 1976, theater leaders in Illinois agreed that there was a need for a greater showcase of theatre talent, leading them to form local theater festivals. As the festivals grew in popularity, the statewide Illinois High School Theatre Festival emerged. Jeff Zavelsky ‘26 spent months preparing to honor this tradition at the 50th annual Illinois all-state theatre fest. The 2026 Theatre Fest took place from January 8 through January 10 at Illinois State University.
Zavelsky worked on the sound crew for Newsies, a musical first released in 1992. The performances required long days of hard work. With only six months to prepare, coupled with the busy schedules of high school students, the cast and crew spent a total of 22 days putting together a show worthy of the high standards of all-state. They rehearsed on long weekends once a month from July to December; the first and second days of each weekend rehearsal spanned from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on the third day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was a performance of passion. Each member of the cast and crew volunteered to be there. “It is a great opportunity,” Zavelsky said. High school student actors, musicians and technicians from all around the state of Illinois auditioned or interviewed for a spot in the company. 5500 students came to the festival, and everyone received tickets to the all-state performances.
The Illinois High School Theatre Festival is no minor deal. The festival has been the stage for famous and renowned performers such as Phillipa Soo – “Eliza” in the hit musical Hamilton. Soo’s signature can be seen on a wall that every cast member of every show performed at the theatre festival has signed. Zavelsky, too, signed this wall with his fellow cast and crew. To celebrate 50 years of the festival, previous all-state performers performed for the opening ceremony, including Ellie Banke, the opener for Ed Sheeran on his upcoming tour.
While each performance at the festival is not compared to the others, a sense of “winning” is given to those lucky enough to be selected for the performance, as Zavelsky and the rest of the Newsies crew were chosen. “The cast was really talented,” said Zavelsky, “being able to be a part of that was really cool.”
The cast was close before the rehearsals for Newsies even began; a large number of the adults who worked on the show had worked together in the all-state production of Hairspray in 2009.
The most strenuous part of the show was putting together the set. After each part of the set was designed, built and painted, it took two full days to assemble. They began around 8 a.m. both days and didn’t end the day until 9 p.m., sometimes later. Between rehearsals and multiple performances, the crew got familiar with setting it up and taking it down. At a benefit performance put on by the cast in Addison, Illinois, pieces of the set did not fit. As a result, the design of the Brooklyn Bridge ended up being shortened; the towers framing the set and holding the bridge went from three stories to two. Their last time taking down the set came after their final performance. Striking the set began around 5:30 p.m. and didn’t end until 3 a.m. The pieces went into two semi trucks and two 20-foot box trucks. Materials borrowed from the Illinois Theatre Association were returned, and other pieces of the set went to various schools in Illinois.
The festival itself consisted of an opening ceremony, workshops, booths showing off their products, a few colleges and primarily shows. Workshops offered interesting theatre-focused skills such as stage makeup. One session went over how to create scars, bruises or other injuries one might get in a fight out of only makeup. The opening ceremony began with honoring the all-state company. Zavelsky, doing sound for the production, walked alongside the company across the stage.
Newsies opened on Friday, January 8, with the cast arriving around 7:30 a.m. before the performance began at 2 p.m. There, around 10 Lake Forest Academy students watched the show, taking a school bus with LFA faculty Jason Koenig, Michael Driscoll and Ted Anderson. The cast had 30 minutes for dinner until another show, performed, then arrived at their hotel at around 11:30 p.m., ready to sleep.
One of Zavelsky’s favorite moments from the show was a potential mishap turning into a strongly sung song. When the lead actor, Miguel, lost his voice, he missed some of the notes. The next high note was even higher, and when it was hit perfectly, the cast was shocked that he had been able to do so. It turned out that the understudy immediately stepped up and, with his rested voice, sang the note incredibly while the cast member out on stage lip-synced.
Their 10 a.m. show on Saturday was their best performance, according to Zavelsky. After a 20-minute lunch, the cast came together one last time for their closing show on Saturday afternoon. “It was sweet,” Zavelsky said, remembering the actors crying and embracing after their hard work had come to a close.
