'MEC Press' December 2019 Publication 1. Newsletter December 2019 Vo 7 | Page 2

Maynooth Education Campus
By TY Student Arwen Carroll
The opportunities that the MEC musical provides
are endless, you can be an actor, a dancer, a set
builder and even if you don’t wish to confine
yourself to one title, its a place to embrace your
talents and discover new-found ones!
As this article is being written, the production for
the musical is already underway. We have the
construction team at work with the Materials
Woodwork Dept. coordinating the construction
team. This crew are working on building the stage
and evolving their construction skills.
Auditions are almost complete with twenty-seven
talented students remaining. The plucky twenty-
seven are slowly being whittled down by Ms
Dunne (director), Ms Murphy (producer) and Ms
Dollard (music director) to determine the stars of
the 2020 show! We look forward to seeing who
will capture the main roles and we wish them lots
of luck in the final stage of the auditions.
The TY set design team is yet to be determined but
those who participate in set design will work with
art teacher Ms Breslin. The art team will oversee
painting the sets and the creation of required
props. This is certainly a team which will let their
creativity run wild.
With options so diverse, TY students have the
chance to enjoy themselves without feeling
pressured or thinking that they will simply be
delegated to a team and pigeonholed.
At the moment, the core musical team are hard at work
splitting all of us who auditioned into different
choruses. As there are so many of us in the TY cohort,
the musical team chose ‘All Shook Up’ to include us all
as it has a big cast.
This effectively means lots of places in the chorus to
include us on stage every night! Other year groups will
also gain the opportunity to be included. Lots of second
years come in on the night to sell confectionary to the
audience during intermissions and it inspires them to
apply for the TY programme.
I also think this is very cool because I came in as a
second-year for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in 2018 and now
I’m taking part in the musical myself. It is a very proud
full-circle moment.
On another positive note, production is fully ahead of
our target timeline as we are currently building the
stage. Next, the art team will work on painting and
props, while everyone is rehearsing hard in January.
There is a buzz in the air at MEC as we reach December.
Everyone is very excited about these next few
delightful months of fun and bonding during this
amazing experience that we are given! We will get to
dress like we’re in the 1950s which will be so much fun.
‘All Shook Up’ without a doubt will be the highlight of
our TY year. As well as being able to come to see our
fantastic musical, a professional film crew will film our
musical and make the recording into DVD’s so both we
and you can all bring the experience home!
Last week the Musical team launched a student raffle
and all proceeds will go towards supporting the
musical. The student who sells the most completed
cards will receive a top of the range smartwatch with
the draw taking place in January.
‘All Shook Up’ tickets will go on sale in January and do
grab them while they’re are hot. Tickets will sell out
very quickly. We look forward to seeing you all there!