Set in the summer of 1922, The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire known for throwing extravagant parties at his mansion in West Egg, Long Island. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest who rents a small house next door to Gatsby while working in New York City.

Through Nick’s eyes, we are drawn into a glittering world of wealth, ambition, and illusion. Gatsby is famous, but few people know much about him. Rumors swirl about his past, that he’s a war hero, a criminal, or perhaps both. What soon becomes clear is that Gatsby’s fortune and his lavish lifestyle all serve a single purpose: to win back Daisy Buchanan, the woman he fell in love with years ago, who now lives across the bay with her husband, Tom Buchanan.

As Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy and her circle of friends,  including the cynical golfer Jordan Baker,  he becomes entangled in the complicated web of Gatsby’s dreams and the Buchanans’ carelessness. Gatsby’s passion for Daisy rekindles an affair that exposes the moral decay beneath the glittering surface of their world.

When the truth unravels, tragedy follows. Daisy’s recklessness leads to a fatal car accident, and Gatsby takes the blame to protect her. In the end, Gatsby is killed for a crime he didn’t commit, and the world that once crowded his parties disappears, leaving Nick disillusioned by the emptiness of the wealthy elite.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a timeless exploration of love, ambition, and the American Dream,  a story that asks what happens when we reach for something beautiful that was never truly real.

At Valley Vista Theatre, we believe in providing our students with a truly professional theater experience — one that challenges, inspires, and prepares them for life beyond high school in the arts. Through a variety of productions each school year, our students gain hands-on experience in acting, design, stagecraft, and leadership.

Our program is built on a tiered learning structure that supports students at every level of their theatrical journey, from foundational courses in Theater 1–2, to advanced training in Theater 3–4 and Theater 5–6, to the specialized world of Technical Theater. Our audition-only performance troupe, Studio Theater, offers our most dedicated students the opportunity to perform challenging material and represent our program in the community and beyond.

This year, our commitment to artistic growth extends even further as we prepare to take our students to New York City, where they’ll experience the professional theater world firsthand. Every performance, every class, and every rehearsal is part of our mission to nurture creative, confident, and collaborative young artists