“Last year was a huge bummer,” said Mt. Hope High School’s theater director, Nick Mendillo. “The spring musical was cancelled, the fall play and drama fest were cancelled.” In a typical year, the Masqueraders will have four major productions: a Halloween fundraising event (usually a haunted house), a fall play, a spring cabaret, and a big musical at the end of the year. This year, the haunted house was out, but the theater group was able to reinvent their approach, thanks to grants from the Bristol Warren Education Foundation, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Rhode Island Foundation.

Under Mr. Mendillo’s direction, the Masqueraders were able to implement a film component to the Performing Arts Department at Mt. Hope, while combining the Halloween event and fall play into one, “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry,” live-streamed on YouTube.

What’s more, the group is currently in post-production of their filmed rendition of Don Zolidis’ “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” directed by Mt. Hope senior Lea Ricci.

“We used film equipment, and I have a giant green screen,” said Mr. Mendillo. “We shot everyone’s dialogue separately. It’s got this Blues Clues vibe — we sort of leaned in to the awkwardness of it.” That production will be live-streamed on Thursday, June 3, at 7 p.m.

Normally, The Masqueraders would perform an extravagant musical at the end of the year. Instead, the Executive Board devoted much of the second semester producing an elaborate, filmed rendition of the annual Spring Cabaret, directed by Sophia Ferolito, and scheduled for Thursday, May 20, at 7 p.m. As with their other events, this one will be live-streamed on the Masqueraders YouTube channel. Visit mhhsmasqueraders.com for the link.

“We didn’t want to do another green screen production, so this one was filmed like a live television show, with songs recorded in studio and students mixing and mastering the audio themselves,” said Mr. Mendillo.

“While there cannot be in-person theater, this is still a fabulous opportunity to come together online and watch our pre-filmed, professionally recorded show. Tune in, comment in the chat, and watch these kids do incredible work!”