“Guys and Dolls” comes to Rifle High School this weekend and next, promising a rendition of the musical that is entirely the students’ own. 

Megan Liggett, the Theatre Director for Rifle High School, says this performance has some new actors in the spotlight. 

“Two seniors who have never acted before now really took a chance as seniors and tried something new and they auditioned; one got a lead role and one got a lead supporting role,” Liggett said. “They’re doing some new and different things and it’s working for them.”

---

---

Liggett said they have three seniors, a sophomore and a freshman in the lead roles and she’s happy her students are getting the opportunity to be in a full production. 

“Our musicals are specifically an effort between me and the music director, also our choir teacher, so he’s the guy who tells me what kind of singers and abilities we have as a group,” Liggett said. “That directs us to which musicals are appropriate. We don’t recycle any musicals within the last 10 years and we look through different ones that we think would be interesting for the students and community and how many students will audition.”

---

---

Liggett said they always have a decent turnout for their musicals as it’s the biggest draw in terms of production and that rehearsals are going well.

There has to be a balance between students’ work and extracurriculars against school and they work the schedule around so the only time all the students have to come is for the last week of rehearsing. 

“There’s a magic moment in the last week of rehearsal where it all snaps together,” Liggett said. “The kids feel that and there’s a boost in their confidence as they can all see it come together.”

At the end of the musical showings, Liggett said she’ll announce which play they’re going to do. 

“I always like to keep it a secret till then,” she said. 

Liggett said that while the drama club is at Rifle High School, it’s fully inclusive and they invite students who don’t have theater at their schools or homeschooled kids to come participate.

“Sometimes seasoned actors get it in their head about the process of acting, where someone new doesn’t have that roadblock,” she said. 

There aren’t a lot of opportunities for kids in theater, in terms of full productions, Liggett said, and there’s not much community theater, even in Grand Junction. 

“I got a lot from my master’s program in theater to bring back here,” Liggett said. She’d completed her degree this past summer. “Having knowledge of theater spaces and technology is a really crucial skill.”

Liggett tried to impress upon her students that theater can be a career path, even if they don’t be an actor to have a theatrical job. 

“My sound designer, stage manager, crew, they’re all students and I try to encourage the actors to do at least one show as part of the backstage so they can see how it works,” Liggett said. “We’re a team.”

Liggett is a big movie buff and she says she marvels at the credits of movies sometimes. 

“You can have 20 to 30 people as actors and then you have hundreds of people after that who contributed to the movie,” she said. 

Liggett mentioned that she’s heard some interest in a community theater program after speaking to people in Rifle. 

“In summer of 2025, I’ll have some time to hopefully get something off the ground,” she said. Liggett also works for the Ute Theater and is looking into possibly starting something there.

For now, at Rifle High School, Liggett is working with her students on Guys and Dolls and other productions.

“There might be a show that me and my students feel passionately about but it doesn’t do well in ticket sales and community response,” Liggett said. “Sometimes we do one that’s popular and does well with the community but it’s not something we would pick in favor of something more hard-hitting.”

Liggett said that she enjoys showing her students different types of shows, whether by doing them or taking them to see shows in Denver or at the Asteria Theater at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. 

“It’s an art form,” Liggett said. 

Come see “Guys and Dolls” at Rifle High School this weekend or next weekend and stay for the last show for a moment for the seniors and the announcement of the next play. Purchase tickets at rhsdramaclub.ludus.com/index.php or at the door, $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors.