By Jet Burnham | [email protected]

This month, all of the local high school theater productions are set in the past. Audiences can step back in time to when people’s clothing and communication were formal and frilly—a stark contrast to today’s culture of leisurewear and texting abbreviations. But were people of the past really so different from the people of today?

Providence Hall High School presents Kate Hamill’s “Sense & Sensibility” Nov. 3, 4, 5 at 7 p.m. and at 2 p.m. Nov. 5. Tickets are $8.

There was no texting or social media in 1797, the year this play, based on Jane Austen’s book of the same title, takes place. However, gossip plays a central role in this tale of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Societal gossip both causes their troubles and solves them as the ensemble cast punctuates the play with gossip that criticizes and influences the girls’ social reputations, courtships and marriages.

Mountain Ridge High School Spotlight Players presents “Little Women the Musical” Nov. 3, 4, 7 and 8 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.

“Little Women the Musical” is the story of four sisters living in the Civil War era, each trying to follow their passion. The show follows the storyline of the book of the same name, with all the touching moments, both joyous and heartbreaking, made even more powerful with the addition of music.

“The musical numbers in this show take a lovely, timeless story and move it right into your heart,” production director Kelly DeHaan said.

The show will be performed by the top students in DeHaan’s music dance theater class.

“Come and see the best high school singers in the world put on a first-rate show about family and friendship and growing up,” he said.

Herriman High School presents “12 Angry Jurors” Nov. 9, 10, 11 and 12 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for children/senior citizens. Tickets can be purchased on the school website.

Set in 1950s New York, this is the story of 12 jurors stuck in a room together, trying to agree on a unanimous verdict for a teenaged boy on trial for murder. The jurors vary widely in their opinions, backgrounds and perspectives, and the discussion easily becomes heated, with anger and prejudices boiling to the surface. This production contains material not suitable for children under 5.

Mountain Ridge High School presents “Is He Dead?” Nov. 17, 18, 19 and 21 at 7 p.m. Purchase tickets online or at the door.

This story, based on a script written by Mark Twain in 1898, takes place in 1840s France.

“The play focuses on a French painter named Jean-Francois Millet, who is a strong painter but struggles to sell his work,” MRHS theater teacher Bradley Moss said. “He and his friends realize that the greatest painters were ignored in their lifetimes and only got the notoriety they deserved after they died. So, Millet fakes his death and dresses as his twin sister in order to reap the praise and money he could never achieve in his life. However, as with all good farces, there are many complications with this ruse, and things get more desperate, identities get mistaken and love lives get complicated as the play roars to its hilarious conclusion.”

The main character in the play is a fictionalized version of a real artist, so students and staff of the MRHS art department painted replicas of some of his actual paintings, which are referenced in the script, to be used as historically accurate props.