& Karley Kurz, Contributing Writer ’27
The Indian Hills Theater Company (IHTC) debuted its 2024 spring production SpongeBob SquarePants The Musical on Thursday, April 11, in the Indian Hills auditorium. Since the beginning of this year, the actors and tech crew have worked diligently to execute their rendition of the famed cartoon and Broadway musical.
The show opened with the iconic SpongeBob Squarepants himself, played by senior Emily Acosta, singing a song about his favorite town, Bikini Bottom. The audience then meets SpongeBob’s friends: Patrick Star (played by Matt Khanlian) and Squidward (played by Gianna DePreta). As the main characters are being introduced, an oddly suspicious rumbling sound reverberates through the room, and it causes everyone in Bikini Bottom to shake. A feeling of unease settles over the town, turning into panic as the civilians learn of the potential eruption of a nearby volcano, Mount Humongous.
SpongeBob decides to step up and try to stop the volcano from erupting. However, his employer Mr. Krabs, played by Jeb Tantawi, isn’t very supportive of his goal, and tells SpongeBob that he is just a simple sponge; sadly, no one else goes along with SpongeBob’s plan either. Plankton, the antagonist of the story played by Alexander Noerr, makes one of his usual evil plans to hypnotize all the citizens of Bikini Bottom in order to get them onto an escape pod to leave the town for good. So, the town begins to raise funds to pay for the escape pod by hosting a concert featuring a popular band, the Electric Skates. Pearl Krabs, played by Jennah Tantawi, is extremely excited about this concert, as she sees the circumstances as a chance to finally become a singer and join the Electric Skates.
SpongeBob suddenly realizes he’s in trouble. With no support from the town and no idea of how to stop the volcanic eruption, he turns to Sandy, the science genius, played by senior Deb Myhren. Sandy was previously told that she does not belong in Bikini Bottom because she’s the only land animal, so SpongeBob has to convince her to stay and help him. Finally, Sandy is persuaded, and she invents the “erupter interrupter” to help SpongeBob, which she claims will interrupt the eruption of the volcano upon being dropped into the opening at the top of Mount Humongous. Now, Sandy and SpongeBob are faced with their biggest challenge yet: climbing the dangerous Mount Humongous.
Act 2 opens with Victoria Fox as Perch Perkins, giving a status update as the doomsday clock ticks closer and closer to the end. The scene then shifts to SpongeBob and Sandy slowly climbing up the volcano to reach the top of Mount Humongous. Simultaneously, the Electric Skates abandon the concert, leaving the citizens of Bikini Bottom and the saddened Pearl stranded, which causes the town to unravel into chaos. All of a sudden, a giant boulder comes raging down the volcano, headed straight for Bikini Bottom in the middle of a town meeting held by the mayor, played by Charlotte Manning. This boulder comes tumbling down into the crowd, (falsely) appearing to have crushed Old Man Jenkins, played by Brandon Maharajh, and eliciting a good laugh from the audience. Back on Mount Humongous, SpongeBob is struggling to reach the top of the volcano and place the erupter interrupter into position, when his best friend Patrick Star returns with Sandy’s jetpack after previously abandoning SpongeBob and Sandy to pursue fame. SpongeBob then places the device into the volcano, and the trio quickly returns to Bikini Bottom to find everyone fighting, yelling, and blaming each other for everything that has happened over the last two days.
Finally, Mount Humongous erupts. Everyone braces for impact, but only bubbles emerge from the volcano; SpongeBob successfully stopped the volcano from erupting with the help of Sandy Cheeks and Patrick Star, saving Bikini Bottom!
As the curtains closed on the auditorium stage, Emily Acosta reminisced on her final show in the IHTC backstage. Emily was so excited to take on this lead role for her eighth show at Indian Hills High School. “It was an emotional moment for sure. This show, and especially this club have meant so much to me, so it was a surreal experience to be ending a long and incredible journey, Emily says. “I will miss IHTC so much. I have made so many amazing memories and met incredible friends in this club. Being a part of IHTC since freshman year has truly made it a second home for me, so it will be very bittersweet to say goodbye.” Seniors Deb Myhren, Jeb Tantawi, Jennah Tantawi, Gabby Frederick, and Bella Rivera, as well as transfer student Mert Ozer (who will be returning to Turkey), will be leaving the cast at the end of the school year as well; they’ve all had wonderful careers at Indian Hills, and their dedication and contributions will be greatly missed.
But as some cast members leave, others are just beginning to find their calling. Freshman Alexander Noerr had a leading role as Plankton in the musical after having many previous roles in other productions, such as Gomez from The Addams Family. In regards to his character, Alexander comments, “Plankton was one of my favorite roles I’ve played. He was easy to memorize, had lots of great scenes, and, you know, I got to rap!” He adds, “When I’m onstage, there’s this irresistible electricity throughout you; you’re on your toes and ready to react.”
As this musical’s decorations slowly come down, the IHTC will be preparing for its next production in the fall and later down the line in the spring, both of which are sure to be equally impressive.
