Abby Allen (front) teaches the 3rd-9th Grade students a box step to “Footloose.” L to R: Ainsley Berger, Greta Berger, Kaylee Evans, Isabelle Longtin, Dominic Veerkamp, Madison Rieke, Brielle Evans, Kenna Holm, Levi Martens, Jamis Martens, Myra Gibbs and Bianca Evans.

NEW ULM — Healthy Communities Healthy Youth (HCHY) is a day away from opening night on their production of “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Middle School (Without Getting Stuffed in a Locker)” and “The Customer is Always Wrong.”

The two productions have been in rehearsal since Monday with performances at 7 p.m. Friday, July 9 and 1 p.m. Saturday, July 10. “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Middle School (Without Getting Stuffed in a Locker)” features students in 3rd through 9th Grade. “The Customer is Always Wrong” will be performed by students 9th through 12th Grade.

Every year during the second weekend in July, HCHY holds a week-long theatre camp. Typically, the program is run by Prairie Fire Children’s Theater (PFCT), but they were unable to organize this year due to uncertainty surrounding COVID. Director Sheldon Rieke took over directing the program himself with the assistance of former theater student Abby Allen.

Rieke said Allen was a veteran of previous theater productions and is currently at college studying teaching and theatre. He asked her to return to help with the summer production. Wednesday, Allen was teaching the students a simple box step to the song “Footloose.”

Neither play originally featured music, but Rieke said it was decided to add musical numbers to make the production fun.

“It is meant to be fun,” Rieke said. “We want them to have fun with it so they will continue to love theatre.”

Rieke and Allen were pleased with the students’ progress.

“These kids have absorbed so much,” Rieke said. “We went off book Wednesday. That’s impressive since they started Monday.”

Rehearsal time for the HCHY summer play is always short and part of the reason for its popularity. In the summer months, family vacations limit how much rehearsal time is available for kids. A single week of theater boot camp after July 4 is all the time some families have available. The plays were selected for this year’s performance because the two stories were easier for students to relate to. In both plays, the students are playing middle school and high school students.

The two plays will be performed 7 p.m. Friday, July 9 and 1 p.m. Saturday, July 10 at the New Ulm High School. Admission is $3 for ages 5 and older.