In the midst of rehearsal in the Buena High School auditorium, the leading stars of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” shine bright on stage set as a forest scene, awaiting the opening night of the play, which they have been working towards for months. 

Sophomore Kai Wyatt, looking forward to playing the role of Katrina Van Tassel, the female lead and love interest, excitedly explains it is her first time being in a school play and that the show is coming along great. Since moving schools to Buena, the sophmore has been enjoying rehearsals and is growing fond of the cast. 

“Katrina is very fun and sweet, and not similar to any other role I’ve played,” Wyatt said. “She is traditionally more feminine than other roles I’ve played.” 

Wyatt feels that everything is coming together; she explains that someone even came in to check their costumes for historical time period accuracy. Wyatt feels at ease and extremely excited for their first performance.

Junior Chase Dykeman plays the lead role Ichabod Crane, the new school master in town from Connecticut. However, Dykeman was not expecting the role, as he was originally aiming for a background character. 

“I wanted to be in ensemble,” Dykeman said. “But now I play Ichabod…which is definitely nerve racking.” Although he is nervous about playing one of the leads, he is thrilled and feels that he has a lot to live up to.

Junior Jake Fredricks takes on the role of Brom Bones, the antagonist of the play, and is quite ecstatic, as Fredricks wants to do his best displaying Brom Bones character development.

“[As I have looked] more into the show, I have learned more about Brom, especially since [he] undergoes [character] changes throughout the show,” Fredricks said.

 Fredricks has been in drama for three years and he is passionate about acting. In fact, all three lead actors in the play have been in drama for some good time.

After seeing the actors interact both on stage, during rehearsal and outside of drama, it’s obvious that all three lead actors of the play share a close bond that’s connected by their passion for acting.

“The three of them are some of the strongest actors here at Buena and their passion for drama really shows in their work,” said Mrs. Ensminger.