The Palo Alto High School Theater program will present a free showcase at 7:00 p.m. tonight at the Haymarket Theater, featuring stage combat, musical performances, and a 30 minute cut of the John Cariani’s play “Almost, Maine”.

The showcase will be performed and run by students in Theater 3, 4 and 4 Honors. There will be three parts of the showcase. The first will consist of two stage combat scenes, directed by senior Matthew Craig. The second part will be a 30 minute compilation of musical theater songs, with selections from “Oklahoma,” “West Side Story,” and “High School Musical”.

The last part will be a shortened performance of John Cariani’s play “Almost, Maine.” This version will be a shorter cut of the popular play. The Paly cut is produced by senior Sarah Olson, directed by senior Paige Esterly, senior Aaron Slipper, junior Will Kast and Olson. The shorter cut of “Almost, Maine” won the Northern California Thespian Play Competition Marathon on Saturday Jan. 25 when submitted by Palo Alto’s Thespian Troupe No. 909.

The Theater students took short trips to Palo Alto middle schools and preformed the first two parts of the showcase for middle school students to inspire interest in highschool-level theater. The students put on two shows for Jordan Middle School on Friday Jan. 24 and two shows for JLS Middle School on Monday Jan. 27.

The showcase is being performed for similar reasons at Paly, to show off some of the talent and fun of Paly’s theater program. The performance also counts as credit for the Theater students.

Paly’s Theater program is also still preparing for their Spring show “Pride and Prejudice,” which starts Friday, Feb. 28.