Seniors Sam Lemme, Adam Logan, Joey Acopiado and Adam Lawdan wrote their own musical “‘08” that has advanced to Theatre Festival.

Lemme and Logan directed the musical; Lawdan, Acopiado and Lemme starred in it; and Acopiado composed the music.

“‘08” is a story about Kerry Gold, a stockbroker who loses his job during the Great Recession and tries to con members of the Sachs family for money. Gold somehow gets involved in the Sachs’ problems, but manages to strike deals with father Chase, son Washington and daughter Merryl.

The idea for this musical came from Logan and Lemme’s desire to direct a One Act play. The idea of a One Act evolved into a musical, and they eventually added Acopiado and Lawdan to their team.

The group then approached Mr. Phelan, Technical Theatre Coordinator, asking for his input. Phelan encouraged them to bring something more concrete to him, and at the beginning of this year, they brought a script and presentation to him.

“It’s the four of them; they made the whole thing happen. I set a date, I made sure they had a room, and gave them whatever support they asked for, and they made it happen,” Phelan said.

This student-written musical advanced to Theatre Fest, a non-competitive theatre festival that showcases productions from Illinois that have caught judges’ attention. They are preparing for their two shows on the last day of the festival.

Looking back on working on this project together, Logan said, “Working on a musical has been an unbelievable high. Not to say it didn’t have stressful moments, but they were all worth it. I just wanted the audience to leave thinking to themselves, ‘I’m gonna remember this. I’m gonna chuckle to myself about the jokes later. I can’t believe that was made by students!’”