Kaitlyn McQuillan as Emma. Photo by James Arthur MacLean
Neptune Theatre’s Youth Performance Company (YPCo) is bringing the musical The Prom to the Scotiabank Studio Stage, playing now until April 28, 2024. The show has music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, also known for writing music for Elf: The Musical, and The Wedding Singer, and a book by Canadian Bob Martin, best known for writing and starring in one of Canada’s most beloved musicals The Drowsy Chaperone.
The musical tells the story of four eccentric Broadway stars who rush to a girl name Emma’s aid when they learn that her small-town Indiana school isn’t allowing her to bring her girlfriend, Alyssa, to her Senior Prom. The story was inspired by the real-life events surrounding Constance McMillen’s prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, back in 2010, where Constance was initially banned from attending the prom for wanting to wear a tuxedo and to bring her girlfriend, and then, in a failed attempt to stave off bad publicity, the prom was cancelled altogether.
I sat down with three of the stars of YPCo’s production Kaitlyn McQuillan, Louisa Morris, and Kalan McKay to chat about the show, their rehearsal process, and the ways in which this musical, based on events that took place fourteen years ago, still resonate in the world today.
Kaitlyn McQuillan plays Emma and says that she is “all about acceptance and learning to accept yourself, and learning how to feel accepted by others. That’s her whole goal in the show.” Louisa Morris and Kalan McKay play two of the aforementioned Broadway stars, Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman respectively. Morris says, “my character is described as a ‘narcissistic Broadway diva,” which is 100% true. She is a celebrity… people definitely love her.. she has a couple Tony Awards under her belt, she has a right to be narcissistic, but also she learns through the musical that not everything is about her, and she learns to love and support people.” Morris says that it takes her character time to realize that she can let down her guard, and that she doesn’t have to always hide behind the mask she wears in public. “It’s been really fun bringing her to life because I feel like the best characters are real, right? And bringing depth to the character has been a really interesting, fun, and hard journey.”
McKay says that Glickman is also a ‘narcissistic Broadway diva,’ and that he “initially wants to help Emma on her journey of getting to go to prom with her girlfriend for very self-centred reasons: for giving himself good publicity and an ego boost. But, as Dee Dee does, he learns over the course of the show to put more important things above himself, and to pursue equality and justice for reasons beyond himself. As a gay man himself, he has faced the struggles that Emma has faced, and he knows how hard it is, so he really connects with Emma throughout the course of the show. I think he and Emma have a really beautiful relationship that I’ve loved getting to play.”
This is just sixteen year old Louisa Morris’ second show, after playing Jo March in YPCo’s Little Women in 2021, but already she has realized that the theatre is a career that she wants to pursue in the future. “I’ve always been really into singing, and songwriting, and acting,” she says, noting that musical theatre allows her to combine these different passions. Seventeen year old Kaitlyn McQuillan has been acting since she was a young child, with her first musical role being a Bird Girl in Seussical: The Musical. “From that moment I sort of realized that this was my thing,” she says, “I kept acting for years, and then I auditioned for YPCo, and did SpongeBob last year, and I did Neptune’s PREP program, (which specifically helps students who want to audition for University and College Performance Programs), in the Fall until February.” Like Morris, this is also the career that she hopes to pursue.
Nineteen year old McKay played Patrick in YPCo’s The SpongeBob Musical last year and says, “I have been singing all my life. I was always the kid that sings. I did all the school talent shows and everything like that. I was involved in choir, and both my parents are very into theatre, especially my mom, so I grew up loving listening to musical theatre, although I didn’t start doing musical theatre until I was in Grade 10 when I was in a production of Elf(: The Musical) in the schoolboard-wide HRCE shows.”
All three cite the professionalism of YPCo as being one of the reasons that they have enjoyed working on this show so much.
“I personally love how intense it is because since I want to do this and pursue this as a career in the future I want to get a sense of how it’s going to be like,” says Morris, “I feel like I’m there to work, and I’m there to bring my passion, and all that I have to each rehearsal.” McKay agrees, “It feels like the best a Pre-Professional program could ever really be. They treat you like professionals, you work hard, and you make a really beautiful show, while learning the ins and outs of how building a show works.” “The creative team is also very supportive, and they’ve been very supportive people throughout this entire rehearsal process, especially our director, Gina (Thornhill). We have lots of good conversations about scene work, and our characters, and how we really bring these people to life, and do justice to their stories. It’s such a great learning experience.”
YPCo is a process-led program open to teenagers who attend the YPCo Boot Camps in the summer. This company did their first read-through rehearsal of The Prom in December and started rehearsals in earnest in January, working several days a week. “It’s intense,” says Morris, “but it’s intense for everybody, so throughout that process everybody bonds. I’m surprised by the amount that I learn, but that only brings me to be a better actor/singer/dancer. I absolutely love the YPCo process.”
When asked about the musical’s themes McKay notes that, as a Queer person himself, despite the fact that the United States of America’s Supreme Court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage back in 2015, the themes of The Prom remain scarily relevant in a tumultuous political climate where he sees Queer rights once again under threat.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” he says, “I think we’re lucky to be where we are in Canada, and I think Halifax is a really great city with a lot of really supportive people in the Queer community, and a really great Queer community here, but especially in, unfortunately, some parts of Canada and the United States… is some really terrible treatment of trans people… I think that this show has a really beautiful message that hits quite close to home in times like these. I think it’s very powerful, and very relevant right now, given the treatment of the Queer community in our world right now.”
“I think at the end of the day The Prom is about radical acceptance and courage in the face of adversity,” says McQuillan, “and every single character has a journey of acceptance and learning how to stand up for themselves in a world that doesn’t always see a place where they can fit in. It’s really such a beautiful show and I’m just so happy to be a part of it.”
“You see [that] when people of power take such a strong stance it can shift the narrative quite a bit,” says Morris, “… if you get someone in charge and there’s someone of power who comes forward, and they use their power for good, you see how that can really change a lot.”
“I never thought, especially as a Queer kid, seeing the news of, in 2015, all 50 states in the US legalizing gay marriage, I never thought that growing up it would go backwards. I thought we’re taking steps forward, and we’re going to keep taking steps forward,” says McKay, he notes that it has been scary to watch the United States moving backwards on these issues over the last decade, but says that it is “comforting” to be able to work on a show with a message that resonates so strongly within him.
Morris adds that she hopes they can share that same comfort with their audiences. “You never know who is going to be in the audience. You never know who you might look in the eye and give them that bit of hope.”
Neptune Theatre’s YPCo Production of The Prom plays at Neptune’s Scotiabank Theatre (1589 Argyle Street, Halifax) until April 28th, 2024. Shows run Tuesday to Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at both 2:00pm and 7:30pm and Sunday April 28th at 2:00pm. Tickets range in price from $25.00 to $35.00 based on seating.
For tickets please visit this website or call the Box Office at 902.429.7070 or visit in person at 1593 Argyle Street.
This runtime is approximately 2.5 hours, including an intermission.
The show deals with mature content and features strong adult language. The production covers LGBTQ+ topics and deals with bullying, specifically against LGBTQ+ youth. There is brief mention of drinking alchohol, xanax and sex. Mild language is used. This show contains flashing lights and loud noises.
The show is recommended for ages 13 and up. Babes in arms & children under 4 are not permitted in the theatre.
Neptune Theatre is fully accessible for wheelchair users. For more Accessibility Information Click Here.
