More than 20 tired Uni students managed to get themselves to school by 7 a.m. on a Saturday — but why? The annual IMEA District III Music Festival, of course. This past Saturday, hundreds of student musicians gathered at Illinois State University to perform. Katy Metcalf, a violist in the district orchestra, tells her story of the event.

Junior Daniel Cheng is an accomplished young pianist, having earned his latest distinction Saturday at the Illinois State Music Teachers Association's senior-level piano competition at Wheaton College. Cheng won first place in the highest age grouping for his performance of works by Mendelssohn, Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin.

Chelsea Edwards, a member of the Class of 2013, earned honorable mention at Saturday's Illinois State Music Teachers Association's junior high state piano competition at Wheaton College. She performed pieces by Haydn, Chopin, and Turina. She advanced to the state contest after receiving one of the two top scores at the district competition at Millikin University.

Hilarity reigned supreme in the North Attic Playhouse from Nov. 6 to 8 in Uni High's production of "Shakespeare in Hollywood." Directed by Barbara Ridenour, the play imagined what might have happened if two Shakespeare characters, Puck and Oberon, were cast as themselves in a 1930s film version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Uni High's production of "Shakespeare in Hollywood," performed Nov. 6 to 8, was a rousing success. Directed by fine arts teacher Barbara Ridenour, the comic fantasy combined 1930s Hollywood with Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for an evening of hilarity. Check inside for a look back at Uni's fall play.

Last weekend, the cast of the Uni fall play put on three successful performances of "Shakespeare in Hollywood," a comedy-fantasy about a 1930s Hollywood filming of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Read on to see what cast members Lauren Piester, Joy Shapley, and Lor Sligar had to say about their experiences.

After two days of auditions and a good three hours of eating pizza and arguing over massively talented fellow students, the cast list for Student Productions has officially been announced. StudProd '08 is set to be performed Dec. 5 and 6. Check inside to see who will perform in the six student-written and -directed plays.

It's StudProd time again! Uni's annual showcase of student-written and -directed plays will take place Dec. 5 and 6, and you can be a part of it. Auditions are being held today and Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the North Attic. "StudProd" is the nickname for Student Productions, and this year six plays were selected to be performed, with a total cast of about 25 people.

There's a saying in the theater that is inevitably uttered every Wednesday of every Uni tech week: A bad dress rehearsal means a good performance. If so, "Shakespeare in Hollywood" should be the most excellent play Uni has ever seen. Read on as Lauren Piester explains.

Lor Sligar continues our fall play diary as we count down to Thursday's opening-night performance. It's challenging enough to deal with five-hour tech week rehearsals while also putting in eight-hour school days. But add morning swim practices to the mix, and you've got yourself some serious sleep deprivation. Welcome to Lor's world!

What happens when two of Shakespeare's characters, Puck and Oberon, suddenly find themselves in the cast of a Hollywood version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" — portraying themselves, no less? That's the premise of this year's fall play, the comedy "Shakespeare in Hollywood," which will be performed Thursday through Saturday.

When Millikin University's second annual High School Invitational Art Show begins on Nov. 1, one Uni student's work will be on display. Junior Sindha Agha's photo sequence of her sister Eva running on top of a Norwegian fortress has been accepted for the show. Agha could win a cash prize and even a scholarship to the Decatur college.

Practice paid off for Uni's new all-district musicians, who auditioned Oct. 13 at Bloomington High School. The district jazz festival is scheduled for Nov. 1 at Illinois Wesleyan University, followed three weeks later by the district junior/senior festival at Illinois State University. The top high school musicians will go on to the all-state festival in Peoria in late January.

In case you haven't heard, Uni High has quite the drummer in Eddie Diazmuñoz. Already a veteran of several bands, he and his friend Zac Craven went to St. Louis this summer to record "Dream!," the debut album of their group, The Capote Flat. Read on as Sindha Agha introduces us to this talented junior, whose career ambitions might surprise you.

It's fall play time, and the cast list is up! Shakespeare is heading to 1930s Hollywood, bringing clever lines, a ton of mischief, the always entertaining innuendo, and more stage kisses than you can count. Check to see who will soon be famous movie stars strutting down the red carpet.