Article posted: 2/28/2013 9:07 AM

Maine East breaks new ground with spring musical ‘In the Heights’

Buy this photo Buy this photo
next prev 1 of 2
   
Gallery Image

Maine East will become the first high school in Illinois to perform the Tony Award-winning "In the Heights." Four of the musical's main actors onstage are, from left, Mynor Pelaez Luken, Adrian Delgado, Marianna Veneri and Brittney Mangurali.

Courtesy of District 207

Mynor Pelaez Luken onstage as Usnavi in the musical "In the Heights." The character Usnavi got his name after one of the first sights his parents saw when they arrived in America from the Dominican Republic, a U.S. Navy ship.

Courtesy of District 207

About this Article

On Friday, March 1, Maine East will become the first high school in Illinois to perform the Tony Award-winning “In the Heights,” with its upbeat score and hip hop choreography. “It’s a show about culture,” says director and drama teacher Karen Hall. “How do I fit in? What is home? And how do we make that work?”