The Man Who Came to Dinner Comes to Hastings

This past weekend, the Hastings High fall play titled, The Man Who Came to Dinner premiered Friday night. Showings were also Saturday night as well as Sunday afternoon. 

The play featured main character “Sheridan Whiteside” played by senior Tyson Pappas. What occurred in this play is written in the title, Mr. Whiteside came to dinner and he portrayed a rather rude personality. 

“The theme of the play is what goes around comes around. The main character is not nice to a lot of people, and he gets paid back for it. In the end, he ends up making it right,” Pappas said. 

Along with the onstage spotlights of the actors and actresses, there are many backstage spotlights as well. People who have parts in the play are also given jobs behind the scenes. 

“Shift crew members all have parts in the play. Evan is the prop master, Kiernan is the costume director, and Grace is a big part of the shift crew as well. Lights are a huge factor, and Parker Quig has done a great job with lights for three years in a row,” Pappas said. 

Crew members are essential to the success of the production, but it would not be successful without the hard work of the director. Katie Funkey is the director at Hastings High. Along with costume designing, she is responsible for creating the set of the play. 

“What we design for the set is called a box set. We built all doorways rather than doors to make it easier. Stepping back when it was all done after hanging the curtains on the walls, putting things on the walls, and bringing out the furniture, made me think that is a house!” Funkey said. 

The play featured a mummy case that was brought out in Act III of the play. Along with building the set, Funkey built the case. After building the case, she handed it over to Pappas to paint on a design. 

“He sketched it all out, gave me a list of colors to shop for, and I was very surprised with the end result. He should be very proud of it!” Funkey said. 

The Man Who Came to Dinner has never been done at Hastings High before. Funkey was surprised that it had never been done before, and decided that this year’s senior class had the personalities to put on a great version. 

“It is a play I have loved since I participated in it in high school. I could not believe that it had never been done here before. I looked at my records, and I did not find it on my list at all. I really love it because it has so many great characters. It was written in the 30s, and it still made our audience crack up. It’s not very often that a play that old will connect with audiences in the way that it did,” Funkey said. 

Funkey knew the play was successful after getting a standing ovation at the performance on Sunday. After hearing the comments in the lobby and feedback from the audiences, she is content with how it went. 

“We really nailed it,” Funkey said.