Skyline High School Theatre presents the dark comedy ‘Light up the Sky’

The show will be performed Feb. 6-8 at Skyline

Skyline High School Theatre will brighten this winter with Light Up the Sky, a hilarious comedy about the highs and lows of the stage.
The play will be performed Feb. 6-8 at Skyline High School, 2552 N. Maple Road. Shows are at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. They are available in advance here or at the door starting 30 minutes prior to the show.
“Light Up the Sky,” written by Moss Hart in 1948, follows the behind-the-scenes drama on the opening night of a new production. The director, cast, and others careen from jubilation to despair and back again as they discuss the audience’s reaction and wait for critics’ reviews. The show features the rapid-fire dialogue and big personalities that were staples of the post-war era.
“I love the comedy style of the 1940s. It definitely has its own style and pacing to it,” said Brodie Brockie, who is directing Skyline’s production. “I think it’s important, especially in an educational setting, that we keep pulling from different eras and styles of theatre. We’ve done modern works, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, farce, and now a snappy Moss Hart classic.”
Skyline will stage the show in its experimental “black box” theater, an intimate venue with the audience seated on three sides.
Skyline’s new artistic director, Kristine Stephens, suggested using the black box for a show, Brockie said. And he is familiar with acting on a thrust stage through his work with the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre at the University of Michigan’s Arthur Miller Theatre.
“I thought that would be fun to do here and give our students the experience of a different kind of theatre,” Brockie said. “I went looking for a show that would work well with that setup and that I would get excited about, and I remembered this great Moss Hart comedy that I performed in way back in 2000.”
Brockie said he loves a good comedy, but it’s important to him that a show has some heart to it or a deeper meaning. He likes the interplay between the characters in Light Up the Sky, some of whom are old friends and some who are new to the group.
“It’s interesting to see the different ways the adversity they face affects those relationships, and how some of the hurts they cause each other are easier to heal than others,” Brockie said. “The characters can behave outlandishly at times, but their relationships feel very real. They love each other, and they drive each other crazy.”