Jim Thorpe’s drama club arrived in style at the Angela Triplex Theatre as they premiered their film of their annual musical Friday night.

The club put on their performance of “West Side Story” as a film, due to COVID-19 restrictions preventing them from holding the typical live performance after the school.

Arriving in classic cars driven by the Jukebox Cruisers Car Club, they walked the red carpet before joining supporters in the Angela for the film.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to walk the red carpet with a bunch of your friends, for something you worked really hard for,” said Jessica Craft, a senior drama club member.

The project was something entirely new for the actors. “West Side Story” was originally scheduled to take place last spring. Coronavirus wiped out that performance and threatened to do the same this year. So they filmed it instead.

“It was probably the coolest project we’ve done,” said junior Carson Queen.

The close-knit cast got to see their work for the first time together. Many in the show have been acting together for several years.

Drama club members from the class of 2020 were not far from their minds. The 2020 show had been cast before the pandemic forced school plays everywhere to shut down.

Queen said he hopes that they will be able to return to the school auditorium stage live in 2022.

The show represented the 50th performance for director Natalie Kmetz. The actors said it was an honor to help her achieve that milestone.

“It was really nice to get to know her as a director and complete her vision for the shows,” Craft said.