student performing a musical on stage

Theater

About Theater

The Ames High School theater program provides performance and technical theatre experience for students in grades 9-12. The AHS Performing Arts Center is located inside the main entrance to the school and offers state-of-the-art performance and technical opportunities. Theater has many opportunities for student performers and technicians in grades 9-12. A play is produced each fall and spring. The winter musical is always a favorite and all productions are open to students in grades 9-12. Through theater, students can further refine their performance and technical skills. AHS Theater has been a long tradition. Students who participate in theater gain the skills to act and perform as an ensemble, get the encouragement to build their self-confidence, all an inclusive environment that is welcoming for everyone.

2023 Spring Play – Spy School

According to the licensing company, Playscripts, Inc. the synopsis of Spy School is: “It’s 1961, and ordinary teenager Jane Doe is drafted by the CIA to become a super-secret secret agent. Her mission? Infiltrate an American high school to locate a Russian spy about to send classified space program information to the USSR. But it’s not easy being undercover, especially when your spy family consists of a femme fatale “mom,” a 40-year-old “younger brother,” and the most dashingly narcissistic “dad” ever. Add that to obnoxious fellow students, a blatantly sexist curriculum, and the horror that is prom, and you’ve got a mission that might be impossible.”

Cast list

2023 Big Fish – Musical

“Big Fish” is a musical based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace and the 2003 Tim Burton film adaptation. The story revolves around Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman who loves to tell tall tales about his extraordinary life. His son, Will, who has always struggled to understand his father, decides to unravel the truth behind the stories. As Edward’s health begins to decline, Will attempts to reconcile with him and understand the meaning behind the fantastical stories.

Cast, crew and pit orchestra list

2022 Fall Play – Trap

An incomprehensible event: every person in the audience of a high school play falls unconscious–every person but one. Using interviews with witnesses, loved ones, first responders, and the investigators pursuing the case, a theatre ensemble brings the story of the strange event to life, documentary-style. But as the strands weave together into an increasingly dangerous web, it becomes clear that this phenomenon might not be entirely in the past. Unnerving, exhilarating, and wildly inventive, you’ve never walked into anything quite like Trap.

Cast list

Contacts

Melissa Kaufman

Email Melissa Kaufman