The theater students of Hillcrest Academy are counting the days until they get to share their spring musical.

This year, the spring musical will be a production of Pollyanna, a story of a girl who, despite her unfortunate circumstances, always tries to look on the bright side. Director and Hillcrest teacher Natalie Silbaugh said that was exactly why she picked the story for the spring musical, “This show is really about a girl who has a hard life, and lots of things to be sad about, but she finds the positive in everything. It’s just great to have this overall positive theme when there’s lots of things in our world that are not so positive.”

The students said that though they sometimes have had to balance other extracurriculars with working on the play, they have been able to make it work. Gibson Scott, who plays the character of Jimmy Bean said, “Towards the beginning of the play, basketball season was still going on, so it was challenging to manage postseason play with getting lines memorized. I think Natalie did a great job balancing both and being very flexible to both.”

Payton Lunkley, who plays Mr. Pendleton, said that the volume of his role was new and a bit of a challenge, “This is the first time I’ve had a bigger role in a show, so I’ve never had to memorize a ton of lines before.”

Brynna O’Rourke, who plays Pollyanna, said that she has enjoyed the chemistry between her fellow actors and actresses and that her favorite part of making the play has been, “getting to make little inside jokes together at practices and eating meals together during tech week and enjoying each other’s company.”

The play contains cast members from eighth to 12th grade. Addison Miller, who plays Polly Harrington, said that she likes the wide range of the cast, “It’s been fun to get to know new people and interact with new people from different grades.”

Pollyanna will be shown three times. The premiere is on Friday, March 6, at 7 p.m., and then on March 7 the play will be shown at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are available on the Hillcrest Academy website drama page.