Set in a High School for the Performing Arts, Making It! is about a group of students who have their hearts set on making it in the theatre world, and several who like to be in plays simply because it's fun. The author, Hindi Brooks, has written many plays and TV shows. She knows the hearts and dreams of young people. That's why the hopes, the frustrations, and the conflicts of the high school students in this play are so real and convincing. The three acts are entitled "Auditions," "Rehearsals," and "The Show." They symbolize the stages in a young person's life as s/he is growing up and stepping into the world. There's fun, excitement, jealousy, heartbreak—and ecstasy for the one who makes it.

Alex returns to his alma mater as a teaching and directing intern. His cast includes Chuck, a talented senior who is so sure that he has the ability to make it on Broadway, he spends all his money trying to get a New York agent to come to see the play. Buddy, also talented but troubled by parents who don't want him to "waste his time" acting. Lisa, the best actress at T. A. She has been Alex's girlfriend since his students days at the high school. Lisa's little sister, Cindy is determined to take away Lisa's boyfriend and her leading role in the play. Also, there's Peg, whose love of fun and clowning overpowers her desire to act; Carol, the talented dancer suffering from anorexia; Gwen, the pretty junior who is upset because her costume is ugly. And the adults—Mr. Barnett, the school principal who loves the money a good show brings in; Ms. Nelson, the drama teacher, once a professional actress; Mrs. Potter, the parent who volunteers to help with costumes—to her daughter's chagrin.

A family play about teenage dreams and problems—like West Side Story and Our Town—Making It! is a play for community and university theatres as well as for high schools. Professionally premiered by the Northside Theatre Co., San Jose, Calif. The play can be produced elaborately or inexpensively. The "play within a play" is Romeo and Juliet. But rather than using authentic Elizabethan costumes, the script suggests leotards with colorful accessories. Set, a school stage; time, present. The best features of Making It! are the fast-moving, suspenseful plot, and the believable characters struggling with today's problems of growing up and preparing for the world "out there."

Hindi Brooks, a seasoned Los Angeles author, has written innumerable scripts for Fame, Eight Is Enough, Little House on the Prairie, and other TV shows featuring young people and their joys and frustrations.

Other plays by Brooks: Captain Noah, Computer Pals, Exeunt O'Brien and Krasnov (An Evening with Eve), A Minor Incident, Wising Up!

See also: Plays About Personal Relationships