A bunch of meddling kids gathered on stage to solve a mystery.

The Legend of Sammy’s Swamp parodies the popular Scooby Doo cartoon from the 1970s, and makes references throughout. The show was directed by longtime math teacher and theater director Mark Roeckers.

“The show was a lot of fun. We came a long way since the beginning of the week,” senior Hannah Going said. Going played Mrs. Jolly, a wise old woman visiting the Shimmer Lake Resort, the inn on the titular swamp. Renae Ramsden portrayed the caretaker and Sammy’s wife, Marian.

The story details a group of students on a science trip at the swamp to study botany, led by their teacher, Ms. Flag (Mary Schwend). There is an ominous monster haunting the residents. The students, loverboy Ranger (Noah French), determined Justin (Aidan Beckman), popular Meagan (Hanna Rickers) and Nicole (Elizabeth Duellman),  and germaphobic Gillian (Linnea McColl), buckle down with Mrs. Jolly, Marian, and the duster Delores (Alex Schell) to discover the identity of the monster.

Ms. Flag is revealed as the catalyst behind the creature (Alex “Wally” Walechka), the wife of Sammy’s (David French) rival brother, Raven (Jakub Klaus).  Jolly tells details the backstory of Raven’s tragic shooting by Rona (Jess Kohner). Twenty years later, Rona changes her name and becomes an adored high school science teacher: Ms. Flag.

Jon Weltzien shined, but not without nerves of who he replaced as the “stage policeman”.

“Jake [Renk] was a great influence on how I portrayed the policeman. There were big shoes to fill, but it was a challenge I accepted,” Weltzien said.

A fantastic show that proves that the theater department has a promising future in many performers.