Durango High School Troupe 1096 is getting ready to take the stage with a fun, ambitious slate of shows set for the 2024-25 season.
And for the theater enthusiasts, Patron Packages are on sale now, which provide ticket holders with guaranteed seats to the shows and a choice of where to sit, along with discounts on extra tickets.
This season is made up of three major productions: “Mean Girls,” “The Little Prince” and “Hadestown: Teen Edition.” All three fall under the same umbrella of the theme for the season: “The journey to find yourself.”
2024-25 Durango High School Troupe 1096 season
“Mean Girls”: Nov. 1-16. New student Cady Heron gets welcomed into the top of the social food chain by an elite group of popular girls called the Plastics, ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George. However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, she soon finds herself caught in their crosshairs.
Underclassmen Showcase: A collection of student-directed work that showcases Freshman and Sophomore actors, while giving juniors and seniors the experience of producing and directing shows. It will be free admission and donations are always welcome.
“The Little Prince”: Feb. 28-March 8. After an aviator descends from the sky to find himself in the middle of the desert, he meets the Little Prince, a young hero on an extraordinary adventure. Join the Little Prince on his journey as he meets many fascinating characters who help him learn how to follow his heart.
“Hadestown: Teen Edition”: April 10-19. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial version of the Greek underworld to escape poverty and the cold, and her poor singer-songwriter lover Orpheus comes to rescue her.
Patron tickets: Season ticket packages are available through Oct. 5. This will secure tickets to each of the troupe’s shows. Patrons can secure tickets to each of the three mainstage shows in two-, three- and four-ticket packages. Patrons will get an email about a month before opening night to choose seats before the general public, and they will also be able to purchase extra tickets at a discounted price.
(Summaries courtesy of Troupe 1096.)
For more information and to buy Patron Tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/4f5s664j.
“Mean Girls’ is a show about someone who did not grow up here in the United States coming into the social environment of high school and kind of falling into this cycle of revenge ... with these girls and what it feels like to gain power in that system and what it feels like to kind of destroy who you are while destroying the people around you,” said Theater Director Ben Mattson. “That sounds like a really heavy way of explaining what ‘Mean Girls’ is about, but ultimately, that is the heart of what the story is about. The central character, Cady, does go on a journey to find herself while navigating the social hierarchy of high school. Same with ‘The Little Prince.’ It’s this kind of metaphysical, philosophical story about a boy who lives by himself on a planet and he goes off exploring to see who else he can find, and along the way he learns about himself as well. And with ‘Hadestown,’ it’s the story of Eurydice and Orpheus where Eurydice dies and goes into the underworld and Orpheus through his love goes to search for her. And so all of these stories contain this beautiful thread of an adventure where you learn about and find yourself.”
Mattson said that while he expects “Mean Girls” (which has had two major films: One in 2004 and a reboot just this year) and “Hadestown” (which is still on Broadway), to be big hits, his favorite of the three is “The Little Prince.”
“I’m most excited for ‘The Little Prince.’ That’s just a story that’s resonated with me,” he said. “That’s the play that my tech students, my student designers, are the most excited about, so I’m sure they’re going to come up with a million creative ways to just knock that story out of the park. And that one is very family friendly; that’s essentially our kids show of the year.”
And as with every year, Mattson said the number of students interested in joining the troupe are always getting larger, which is a good for a program that provides a lot more than just a fun time putting on a show.
“I do like to see the numbers grow,” he said. “I think that being part of the troupe gives kids valuable skills that they can’t really get anywhere else. It gives them leadership and responsibilities outside of the classroom that I think is absolutely incredible. It makes me proud to see those numbers grow and to know that our program is reaching more kids.”
katie@durangoherald.com
