More than 20 Chesapeake High School theater alums reunited to present “Back to the 80s,” a jukebox musical, this weekend.

With 10 rehearsals and a tech week, a team of enthusiastic alumni, ranging from the class of 1986 to 2025, are singing and dancing again, dressed up like jocks, goths and nerds.

“We’re just getting together and having a good time, having fun,” said Dylan Hoyles, who is playing the main character, Corey Sr., in his first ever non-ensemble role. “It was daunting at first, and now it’s just like a presentation at work — you just get prepared for it.”

Through flashbacks, the main character tells the story of his senior year at William Ocean High School. It’s a jukebox musical from the early 2000s, and uses popular ’80s music from artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Wham.

Despite the time crunch, they didn’t cut corners. The show features a live band, detailed lighting cues and a microphone on every actor. The set — which looks like a giant boombox — was built in less than two weeks and features a door that opens like a bridge over a moat and light-up Rubik’s cubes.

After some trial and error, the group performed “Mamma Mia” last June and decided to return to the stage annually.

They rehearse after hours in school, and the production is financed through the theater department.

Money from ticket sales goes right back to producing more shows. Brooke Blankenship, a 2014 alumna who now does marketing for 5 Guys, took on directing. On stage, she plays an inhaler-huffing nerd, but off stage she’s making decisions, answering questions and keeping the show afloat.

“It has been incredibly fun to have alumni from all decades come together for this show,” Blankenship said. “The energy in rehearsals is palpable and it’s wonderful to see the shared passion for theatre bringing so many different generations of Chesapeake High School talent back to our stage.”

Chesapeake’s theater teacher, Kristen Bishoff, had the idea for an alumni show after hearing some of her students grieving that their high school theater careers ended with graduation, and acted as a producer while playing another nerd alongside Blankenship.

“The first year, we tried and it didn’t pan out. We had to reschedule, we couldn’t get enough people, and then the next year, with more planning and more interest, we were able to put the word out, and ‘Mamma Mia’ was a huge success,” said Bishoff, Class of 2000.

Bishoff has been teaching in the Chesapeake cluster of schools since 2016, and out of the 26-person cast, 13 were previously her students. Many of her fellow teachers, who were influential to her, are also in the production.

“I love being up there with former students and my mentors who are now my friends. It’s a lot of fun,” said Bishoff, whose son is also in the show.

Even the crew and band are mostly made up of alumni, with the exception of a few current students.

Em Turpin, Class of 2022, ran the sound board all four years and returned to play bass in the pit. A special education teacher in the county, Turpin appreciates the show because it brings back the sense of community many musical students have in high school.

“It’s nice being able to play music with people again, and I kind of lost that bit when I graduated,” said Turpin.

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