PUEBLO — In the spring of 2019, the students in Pueblo County High School's Drama department put months of work into bringing the classic show Rock of Ages to life.
"It was an incredible show," said Taylor Gilman, the high school's Drama Teacher and Theater Director.
"I was called in by my principal about three hours before we were supposed to open, and he told me that we weren't going to be able to do the show."
The months of dedication put in by both Gilman and the students was gone due to COVID-19.
"I was really sad because I love performing for people," said Senior Rylee Spedell. Spedell was involved in Rock of Ages, and is now in Ranked for this year's performance.
On Thursday, Spedell and her fellow cast and crew finally get their chance to shine on stage. As the pandemic progressively improved, Pueblo County High School decided they would be able to put on a performance with an in-person audience.
"We've been trying really hard for this show because COVID made us realize we don't appreciate everything as much as we would before," said Spedell, excited that opening night is finally here.
Gilman says the department has had to take a lot of extra precautions in order to have a successful show.
"We had to make it a smaller cast, so typically were able to cast between 40 and 50 kids in a show... This year we had to cut it down to 20 kids."
The cast will be wearing clear masks on opening night. Instead of over 700 people, there will only be 150 people in the audience each night.
"That's really hard cause for us, all of our funding comes from fundraising, comes from tickets sales. We don't get anything from the school itself, so that's a really big hit and a big loss for us."
The show starts at 7:00 pm on April 15 and runs through the weekend. Gilman says she is reserving about 20 tickets at the door, but the show is sold out online.
