by Katie Toledo. @kxtietoledo.
DANVILLE, VA – Tragedy struck this afternoon when school musical director and Drivers’ Education teacher William O’Hara ignited a low-grade forest fire by mishandling pyrotechnics for the grand finale of his 12-part TikTok series announcing their Spring show, In the Heights.
“His plan was to play the end of the act one finale, where they sing about the fireworks, while shooting off actual fireworks,” said Rebecca Foster, Riveredge High School’s choir teacher, while sorting through a box of charred MTI librettos recovered at the scene. “Or at least, that’s what he told me before asking me to distract the technical director.”
High school senior and Riveredge Drama Club treasurer Sam Bridle was eager to comment on the matter after their International Thespian Society meeting.
“As soon as Mr. O’Hara’s first video passed two hundred thousand views, he began planning this elaborate series, like, building up to the ‘big reveal’,” Bridle said, angrily logging I.T.S. dues into an excel sheet. “He even started using the Spring musical budget to amp up the production value. The funny thing is, he told us it was In The Heights right after the first video cuts off.”
Danville fire department chief and self-proclaimed casual musical enjoyer Brian Rivera addressed the situation to the public.
“Our team was able to salvage what appears to be a ring light, a cracked iPhone 11, and a Bose speaker that was remarkably still playing the cast recording through the blaze,” commented Rivera, minimizing a tab of what appeared to be the 2008 Tony performance of “96,000” on YouTube. “Which, by the way, was pretty good. I mean, I knew I liked Hamilton and Moana, but I should have given some of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s other work a try. Lesson learned.”
The reveal is the latest addition in a long list of run-ins with local authorities for the theatre department - who recently instigated town-wide panic with their immersive marketing strategy for the fall play Don’t Drink the Water.
At press time, Mr. O’Hara was unable to be reached for comment, as he is currently being held in the Danville Adult Detention Center. Inside sources confirm his status has influenced a new series, which is rumored to reveal a site-specific production of Chicago directed by the accused.