In Focus: Pequot Lakes High School Presents ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’

Most students are worried about their next test or their weekend plans. But in Pequot Lakes High School Theater’s fall musical, “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief,” students will trade their struggles with geometry homework to grapple with the Greek gods.

“Percy Jackson is based off of the famous book series by Rick Riordan. It’s, I would consider kind of the new thing getting kids into reading,” said musical director Maarja Melander. “So it’s a little bit old, as in it was probably big about 10 or 15 years ago when it was new. But the TV show has been coming out on Disney+ for the last two years, so that has also kind of renewed that interest in Rick Riordan’s books. It follows a young boy who finds out he’s a demigod, half god, half human, and kind of his story, kind of figuring out who he is and where he falls in the world.”

Typically, the students involved in these shows are upperclassmen at the high school. But due to the popularity of the book series and subsequent TV show, the theater department decided to cast middle school students in the show as well, going as far as casting a middle schooler as one of the three leads.

“There’s so many people here who are like, love Percy Jackson, and it definitely shows on stage,” said Ben, a seventh grader at Pequot Lakes Middle School, who portrays Grover Underwood. “Everyone got a chance to be in this show—like, every single Percy Jackson fan and stuff, they all were let in, because a lot of the shows I’ve been in, they don’t let everyone in. So it’s nice that everyone who wants to be in can be in.”

The rest of the cast has embraced the youngsters and work with them to create a familial environment behind the curtain.

“It’s really nice because I can help the younger kids,” said ninth grader Lilian Lies, who plays Annabeth Chase. “But then the older kids also help me. So we’re all kind of like a family, I’d say. I like theater because I get to find the people I’m meant to be with.”

For fans of the book, series or TV show, those in the show believe it respects the original source material and presents it in a brand new way.

“A lot of the stuff that we’ve done with blocking, we have taken from the show to give us some ideas and stuff like that,” added Tobi Millard, an 11th grader who plays the titular character of Percy Jackson. “It’s a lot of dancing and a lot of movement. It’s a lot of singing. Much more engaging when they’re singing and dancing.”

The show will run through this weekend, with shows on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.