Cast vs. Crew Series

The full story of a junior high musical production, told exclusively from the POV of the kids backstage. It’s High School Musical, from behind the scenes . . . without the high school. THIS IS BOOK TWO OF A TRILOGY.

    In this sequel to Setting the Stage, there’s one week left until opening night of Curie: The Musical, and nothing is going right backstage. 

    The set has collapsed, the crew’s headsets don’t work, and Ella, the stage manager, just quit in a fury. The cast and crew are playing pranks on each other, and Willow, the soundboard operator, is working on a scheme that will turn the feud into all-out war! 

    Levi, the tech lead, and Rosa, the star of the show, are caught in the middle. Can they unite the cast and crew in time to actually rehearse? Or will the chaos force them to take sides and destroy their showmance? 

    The teachers call it “tech week.” The kids call it “hell week.” Whatever you call it, this is the week that the drama of drama club gets real.

SERIES LAUNCH! The full story of a junior high musical production, told exclusively from the POV of the kids backstage. It’s High School Musical, from behind the scenes…without the high school.

Every cast depends on its stage crew. But what happens when they hate each other? SETTING THE STAGE is the first act in a trilogy that tells the whole story!

Eighth grader Ella Amani has been waiting her whole life to be the stage manager of the middle school musical, and this is her year!

Somehow she’ll have to find jobs for Willow, who’s doing stage crew instead of detention, and Sebastian, a shy sixth grader whose sister is the star of the show. She’ll have to wrangle Kevin, the clumsy new kid who was homeschooled on a boat, and Levi, her best friend, who used to tell her everything.

Still, Ella’s pretty sure she can handle the crew. The cast? That’s a different story. They’re ungrateful, they treat the crew like servants, and when Ella finally pushes back, they start playing pranks!

Setting the Stage is a behind-the-scenes look at the drama of drama club from the crew’s point of view.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection