Students from Oak Park and River Forest High School will participate in the Illinois High School Theatre Festival’s all-state production of “Shrek the Musical.” Theater students from around the state will come together to put on this show at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Jan. 14. The team includes six students from OPRF with direction by Michelle Bayer, who heads OPRF’s theater program. The choreographer is alumnus Connor Cornelius. Because the performers are spread out all over the state, they are limited to long weekends to work on the production. Stage manager Ian Kedrowsk said he enjoys the weekend rehearsals, describing the experiences as a “summer camp.” Cornelius said that the end result will bring joy to the audiences, particularly Joshua Bond’s comic turn as the donkey. Bayer explained that the themes of this production run parallel to our time. The same way Shrek emerged from the swamp, we are emerging from the pandemic.