WQXE News

Two Elizabethtown High School seniors are directing their first play for TK Stone Middle School. Kate Shirts and Madeline Curtis were asked to take on the project by E-PAC Director Carmen Caldera-Brzoska.

“Ms. C asked us if we would be interested in being senior directors for the middle school show because middle school, their program kind of fell apart after our show got canceled when we were in eighth grade for COVID, and it just never got rebuilt,” said Shirts. “We’re both really busy, so we were like, we can just do one together. We can’t do two separate.”

Before the two could direct a show, they first had to decide what play to do.

“We were supposed to do The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when we were in eighth grade, so we were looking at scripts and we were like ‘what if we brought it back and did it for our middle schoolers now?’,” Shirts said.

Both students have acted in numerous plays but directing is a new experience for them.

 “There’s just so many things you have to think about, because me and Madeline had talked about and kind of prepared for like the obvious things like what are we going to tell our actors, and how are we going to do notes, and when are we going to block, and what do we want our stage to look like, but then now we’re in tech week and we’re finalizing costumes and lights and all the stuff that I was aware of but I didn’t think about like how much work it was going to be to get it all together.,” Shirts said.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is being performed on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Elizabethtown Performing Arts Center, located at TK Stone Middle School on Morningside Drive in Elizabethtown. Tickets are $5.

Elizabethtown Events Manager Beth Pyles says the city is excited to kick off its summer programming with the eighth annual E-Town Wine Fest, which she says will be bigger than ever.

“Delicious food, wineries, we will have beer – we’ve got some craft breweries going to set up as well,” said Pyles. “Of course, the Bourbon Spec Yard Bourbon Bar will be available as well, and this year we’ll have several commercial vendors on site. We had some last year, but our selection has expanded, and we are still taking applications, so by the time May gets here we are excited for what we’re able to present to the public this year.”

The festival will be held at the bandstand at Freeman Lake Park from 4 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 11. Tickets are $30 the day of and $25 in advance, but there’s still time this week to take advantage of the festival’s “Uncorking Sale.”

“You get discounted tickets for the Wine Fest for only $20, so you’re saving a little bit of money, $5 off of the pre-purchase, and of course $10 off the day of, so $20 up until March 1st,” Pyles said.

Wineries will be offering drinks by the glass or bottle, so tasting tickets will give patrons the chance to try before they buy.

“With your tasting ticket, that includes admission, a wine tasting glass that you get to take home with you, and eight tasting tickets to use at any of our wineries,” Pyles said. “We have reached out to several more wineries this year, and it looks like we’re going to have a lot more than we had last year. We’re really excited about that.”

Non-tasting tickets are available for $10. In addition to the food, drink, and commercial vendors, Piper Madison will open on stage, followed by headliners The Mixers.

Visit www.etownevents.com for more information.

Current eighth graders heading to Central Hardin High School for ninth grade next school year will be attending classes at a satellite campus.

“Near the beginning of this school year, we shared, through multiple channels, videos and letters to eighth grade families, so current eighth graders, that when those current eighth graders become Central Hardin High School freshmen, that they may have to relocate to a satellite campus in their freshman year in order to expedite construction at the Central Hardin campus,” said Hardin County Schools Community Relations Specialist John Wright. “We sent that out as a possibility, and now that favorable bids have come in for Phase 2 of construction of Central Hardin High School, that will happen.”

The Bruin Academy will be located in the former Lincoln Trail Elementary School building on Bardstown Road. In a release sent out by HCS, the district says it considered multiple factors including convenience, travel logistics, and location. Students participating in electives and extracurriculars will still have access to those activities at the main campus, with counselors working on transportation schedules.

Wright said the district is dedicated to giving every student a positive experience.

“We know it will work, and we are committed to making sure that next year’s freshman at the Bruin Academy receive every opportunity that they would have were they, literally, on the Central Hardin High School campus,” Wright said.

A form for parents and community members to ask questions and express any concerns is available on the HCS website.