“[The show] has a really great message about friendship and being kind to each other, and it’s just a great holiday show that the whole family can watch together,” drama teacher Andrew Snider said.

This Saturday and Sunday, the Advanced Drama II class at Starr’s Mill High School will put on the play “Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” in the Willie Duke Auditorium, directed by senior Jordan Bobbitt.

“Junie B. Jones will definitely put a smile on people’s faces right in time to start celebrating the holiday season,” Bobbitt said.

Snider wanted to continue this year’s trend of making changes and trying new things in the drama department and decided to take a different approach to the upcoming play. Instead of Snider leading his students through the production process, he chose a student director, Bobbitt, to take control of this project. “Everything’s coming together, and I know that it’s going to be a great show,” Snider said.

While she is in charge of running the production, Bobbitt didn’t tackle this project alone. Snider split everyone into groups “with each aspect of the show having a few students working on it specifically,” Bobbitt said. For example, about three students are assigned to each costuming and set design, and the same goes for marketing and stage managing. ”This was wonderful way to approach the production as it was our Advanced II class show this year,” Bobbitt said.

Snider wanted to give his Advanced II class an idea of what it’s like to produce and manage its own play. His inspiration behind choosing “Junie B. Jones” was that he “wanted a show that would be easy for the advanced kids to take over and produce themselves, and [he] wanted something that could bring in an audience as well,” Snider said.

The class has been working on the play since October, and this is Bobbitt’s first time directing a show. “In the past, I have stage managed and acted in a few shows at Starr’s Mill,” she said. “Because of my experience in different aspects of the theater department at Starr’s Mill, I had a better idea of how to organize the show and our time during rehearsal.”

Even though the task was daunting at first, Bobbitt seems to have really enjoyed herself throughout the whole process. “I couldn’t do anything in this show without the help of every single person in the class though,” Bobbitt said. “It takes a village.”

The show opens in the Willie Duke Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2:30 p.m. with a second showing that evening at 7 p.m. The final performance will be held on Sunday, Dec.11 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $5 for students and $7 for adults and will be available in the front office or at the door.