High School Story: Class Act

The show must go on, and it will -- with the return of High School Story! This time around, High School Story is back with a new cast in the new school year, and more drama than ever before. Yes, we're talking theater! Let's chat with the team behind the newest Choices book to get the lowdown on High School Story: Class Act...

High School Story: Class Act is a different take on High School Story. What's new? Fill us in!

Wendy: It’s a new year at Berry High! This time around, you play an incoming freshman with a major love for theatre. As you step into the spotlight, you might just fall in love! But the course of true love never did run smooth, and neither has the path to stardom. You’ll meet a new cast of main characters, including actors, jocks, cheerleaders, and more! Make friends, defend yourself from enemies, and flirt your way to romance. Good luck!

Will we be seeing any familiar faces from previous books? Any friends? Enemies?

Wendy: While this book features a new main character and several new main cast members, you’ll be seeing plenty of returning characters, especially the original High School Story main character. As for enemies... you'll see.

Brianna: The main character of High School Story books 1-3 will be playing a big role in the drama this time! And an old enemy will have a surprising link to someone you know. I’m super excited to see how people react to these connections.

Aside from the drama of theater, how much drama will there be in this book? What about romance?

Wendy: It wouldn’t be High School Story without drama, would it? Watch your back... As for romance, you can choose between Rory, the boy/girl next door, the ambitious perfectionist Ajay, and Skye, the awesome goth girl.

Rachel Z.: The play is your chance to prove yourself to your classmates and reinvent who you are. And you might just develop feelings for others working alongside you on the production!

Who in High School Story: Class Act are you most excited for everyone to meet? Do you have a favorite character to write?

Brianna: I’m the most excited for everyone to meet your twin! Sibling relationships are some of the most entertaining things for me to write, and I hope our players enjoy their silly banter as much as we do!

Emily: I really like Ajay, our director extraordinaire. I relate to how serious he is about his passion (though mine was for the school newspaper), as well as his reservations about romance. He’s also very sassy and quick-witted, which was fun to write. But I have to say, as a former redheaded emo girl — writing Skye was like looking in a mirror.

What's your connection to theater? Do you have any favorite memories from drama class?

Rachel Z.: The theater was my home in high school. I did the whole gamut, from acting to writing and directing. I attended a small all-girls' Dominican school where the nuns had to approve our theatrical productions. My freshman year, we somehow got away with doing The Rocky Horror Show...

Brianna: I love watching plays, but I was never a theatre kid myself — I’ve only done skits in English class, and I was quite bad at them. At the risk of sounding like some kind of stone-cold killer, my favorite acting experience was when I played Othello and murdered my wife Desdemona, who was played by a guy friend of mine.

Emily: I really only did theater when I was a child, but got back into it in college. My Generalized Anxiety Disorder really made theater very scary for me, which was why I didn’t pursue it in high school. I tried to be braver in college and ended up taking a class called “Actors and Acting.” I learned a lot about the craft and got a lot of compliments on my performances, but theater actually played a part in changing my life — I met my now husband in that class!

Wendy: I’ve always been a theatre kid, so it’s no surprise that it eventually crept into my writing. My favorite theatre class memory actually comes from college. There was this one technique that everyone else in the class seemed to be making progress on, but I just couldn’t get it. I ended up in my professor’s office, crying, expecting to be told that acting just wasn’t for me and I should quit now. Instead, he explained to me that there is no magic line between “good” and “bad”. You just have to focus on improving. That way of thinking really changed my life. (And, yes, I did eventually have the breakthrough I was looking for.)

And scene! Thanks so much for reading, everyone. And don't forget to tune in Wednesday for the fright of your life with It Lives Beneath! We've also got some magical sneak peeks from The Elementalists brewing...

-Shae