Disney's Mulan premiered on Bandera High School's stage last week, performed by Bandera High School's Theater Pro class. Being a full scale Disney dramatization, the production of Mulan was no small feat.

"It's big," Theater teacher Roslyn Houghton said. "We've had a lot of help."

Not only does the theater department work day and night to put Mulan together, other seemingly unrelated classes contributed as well.

"Mr. Flink's Construction class built the revolving stage and my technical theater class painted the  backdrops," Houghton said. "Senior Art Club member Samantha Meyer painted the Chinese changing screen."

Though she has won awards at the state level for her art, seeing her work up on stage was a first for Meyer.

"It felt pretty awesome [seeing my work on stage]," Meyer said. "I spent probably a collective of three to four hours on [the changing screen]."

But Building Trades teacher Brad Flink and his students spent substantially more time on their construction.

"We started during the third week of school," Flink said. "It took us about four weeks to finish them all."

Mulan's production also received help from parent volunteers.

"We received help with the choreography of the fight scenes from Gilbert Rivera (father of Zeanna Rivera)," Houghton said.  Rivera’s background in karate helped make these scenes more realistic.

Senior Zeanna Rivera plays the role of Mulan, and says she feels a connection with her character.

"I feel that sometimes when my parents tell me I should be a certain way I can relate to Mulan," Rivera said.

But because this year marks Rivera's first year in theater, there are some challenges she didn't anticipate.

"It's actually really tough to dance and sing at the same time," Rivera said.  "You don't simply stand in one place and sing, you have to remember to do all the other motions."

But dancing wasn’t the only thing that caused some opening night nerves for Rivera.

“Having a lead role without having been in theater before is really nerve racking," Rivera said. "There is a lot of pressure because everyone already knows more than you do and you don't want to let anyone down."

Junior Journey Cruz, who plays the role of Mushu, feels the show is a success.

"It's definitely worth it," Cruz said.  "All the time we put into working on the show is worth it when we make the audience laugh."

Mulan’s final performances at BHS will be on 17th, 18th, and 19th of November at 7:30PM in the auditorium.  Snacks and beverages are available at intermission courtesy of the Theatre Parents Booster Club.