By Meghan Runte
This year’s fall play will be performed from Nov. 12-14 at 7:00 p.m., with a matinée on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The fall play for the 2026-27 school year is Sense and Sensibility, based off Jane Austin’s popular novel.
Theatre teacher and director Mrs. Leslie Baum explained that the play is about “two sisters, one of them is Elinor and the other one is Marianne. Elinor is very composed and does not show her emotions whereas Marianne is the exact opposite.” The story follows the two women and their journey to find husbands and establish themselves in the world.
Baum said that it is a “very difficult play because it is a modern retelling of a story that is very old but that still has resonance in our society today.” Baum added that she focused on students getting to a headspace where this is not just an old, boring story, but a comment on society both then and now.
Baum also brought in a dialect coach from Cincinnati Shakespeare Company “to help the students begin learning RP [received pronunciation] which is a British dialect created for the wealthy people in England. It is actually a created dialect… He was really helpful in helping them figure out how to change the vowels and where to hit consonants to really sound like a British person.”
Elinor Dashwood is played by sophomore Jillian Moning, who shared that “theatre has always been a haven for me. I love how subjective and collaborative acting is, and I find that with each production I participate in, my confidence grows. I still haven’t completely processed that I have a lead role.”
Marianne Dashwood is portrayed by senior Maryn Minnich. She said that in the play, “there are so many characters and events the students can relate to in their own lives.” Minnich has followed her acting passions “because it is fun to play people who are different from me, and we really have a great community here at McNick. I think I laugh during every rehearsal, and everyone is so encouraging.”
Sophomore Logan Knueven portrays Colonel Brandon and explained that “preparing a character requires you to read the whole script, so you know all the circumstances of the character and what other people think of the character and preparing their physicality, like how they walk or move so the audience gets a full image of the character.”
Knueven added that “the cast and crew are a team, we may not be a sports team, but we are a team and it really takes everybody to put on a production. It really builds teamwork skills because it is such a group activity, you will learn how to work with other people and then you feel really good come showtime because you know you helped in some way.” Moning added that the “production of Sense and Sensibility is so full of life. It has a blend of comedy, romance, and sisterhood, and it is so easy to connect with this story. The cast and crew have worked so hard on this play, so it would mean so much to have students come and support us!”
All students get in free to the play, and parents can purchase tickets here.
