YORK COUNTY, Pa. — A York County school received an exclusive honor to bring Harry Potter's story back to life this fall.
York County School of Technology won a contest for the rights to perform "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" this fall with Weary Arts Group.
Cal Weary, the organization's founder and a teacher at York Tech, credits Brandon May, head carpenter and science teacher, for jumping on the opportunity and bringing it to Weary's attention.
"So I hopped in my car, drove up to New York, checked the show out," Weary said. "It was amazing, blew me away. I sat there thinking, 'how are we going to make this thing happen?' But we make things happen at York Tech."
After a few months, the school found out it had been selected. Only 29 schools across the U.S. won the honor of performing the exclusive show, and York Tech is the only school in Pennsylvania with the rights.
"Our kids went NUTS," Weary said.
He says everyone from current students to alumni to people with other schools have reached out to express their interest in being a part of the show and coming to see it.
Every student at York Tech will have a chance to get involved, whether it be building sets, helping with the technology or being part of the cast and crew.
"You name it, our kids are learning real-world skills every single day," Weary said. "And they all get applied to us in our drama program. I have no fear that our kids will not be able to come up with every little subtle nuance and beautiful thing that's going to happen on that stage effects-wise. They revel in it. They love doing this kind of work."
The drama club has not yet seen the final high school version of the script, but the writers say it's composed so that schools should be able to pull off a production similar to seeing the performance on Broadway.
"It means quite a lot," Weary said. "Especially coming from a tech school where, you know, sometimes people think we're all only about business there. And we are, but there's such a strong love for the arts at York Tech."
The school's drama club has gone from zero to 140 participants in the last six years.
For now, York County School of Technology plans to put on at least six shows during the first two weekends of November. Weary says they may add more dates if the demand for tickets is high.
If you can't wait until November for a taste of the arts, York Tech also has a spring musical coming up. Students will perform "The SpongeBob Musical" from April 19 - 21. Tickets can be bought online.