Edina Thespians have been invited to perform their rendition of “Waterloo” from “Mamma Mia” at the State Theater in June. 

The invitation came after “Mamma Mia”’s performance at EHS won multiple awards from the Spotlight organization—Minnesota’s largest annual theater awards and recognition event among high schools across the state. This year’s performance at the State Theater and the general award ceremony prove to be especially significant. Over the past two years, the Spotlight awards have either been online or outside to adjust to COVID safety requirements, making these upcoming performances the first to return to standard procedures since the pandemic began. 

While rehearsing the musical in December, Edina Thespians faced multiple challenges. The most infamous was when nearly all of the cast contracted COVID between shows, causing chaos and lots of stress to those involved. In the end, a week of shows were canceled. “It was going from really high highs to the lowest lows,” junior Lizzie Semmington, who played Donna in “Mamma Mia,” said.

Since the last performance of “Mamma Mia” in December, the cast has been working vigorously every Wednesday to rehearse for the big performance.

After all of their challenges—a sense of community has formed among the cast. “My favorite part [of rehearsing] was being able to build closer friendships with people,” Semmington said. 

While the cast has been working hard, the crew has also been hard at work behind the scenes to support the cast. “Even though the cast gets to go and perform, our crew won all of these technical awards…We really have one of the best student tech teams in the state,” director and choreographer Jessica Froehlich said. 

The awards received by Edina Thespians serve as proof of their hard work and persistence through many complications. “It’s recognition that we did really good work and that we’re putting on professional-quality shows,” Froehlich said.