The two students, both lifelong performers, saw their senior projects as an opportunity to introduce their more theater-skeptical peers to the joys of performance. Robjent, the student director of the show, said the momentum began after the drama club’s fall performance of “Eurydice.”

“We had initially thought that we were going to be doing two plays (for our senior projects) instead of a musical and a play. We thought that a musical would be too big,” said Robjent, who uses they/them pronouns. “After our senior play, ‘Eurydice,” this November, there was enough excitement around it, enough enthusiasm supporting the drama club, that we were like, ‘Maybe we can do something bigger.'”

Robjent and Stephens chose “Spamalot” because of its popularity and accessibility — the musical, written by Monty Python alum Eric Idle, is based on the 1975 cult-classic comedy “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

“It’s a lot easier to get people excited about doing a super, super fun comedic and ultimately hilarious show,” said Stephens, who took charge of choreography and costumes.

King Arthur’s faithful servant, Patsy, played by Pia Morrelli, reminds him to “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” in rehearsal for Keene Central School’s production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” on Wednesday (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

The show is flexible, with a variable ensemble size and several roles that can potentially be double-cast. This was perfect for Robjent and Stephens, who weren’t sure how many students would audition. Robjent said that the casting process ended up mirroring the plot of the show.

“The storyline about Arthur recruiting his knights was kind of like us recruiting our actors: new actors, new knights, new adventures,” they said.

The majority of the cast ended up being first-time actors.

“The lens that I’m looking at our senior project through is sort of bringing up new actors into our drama club,” they said. “It’s important to me to involve the younger kids. We have a couple middle schoolers and a couple of elementary kids.”

Stephens said that she wanted to establish a theatrical legacy at KCS.

King Arthur, center, played by Asa Sprague, and his knights, played by Soren Jacobson, left, and Vann Morrelli, right, sing “Knights of the Round Table” during rehearsal on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

“I want there to be a legacy aspect of it,” she said. “I transferred here in ninth grade when we were online and there hadn’t been a show until last year when we put on ‘She Kills Monsters.’ I didn’t want that to happen again, where we sort of just lost this part of our school. I think it’s super important.”

The core roles of King Arthur and his knights — Sir Lancelot the Homicidally Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, Sir Dennis Galahad the Dashingly Handsome and Sir Bedevere the Strangely Flatulent — were given to theater newbies and athletes, Robjent said.

“The majority of our knights, this is their first time on stage,” they said. “They’re all athletes, they’re very good athletes and they’re all very confident in their sports. So, to watch them struggle with learning the dance steps, like trying something new, it’s been great. … They’ve had a lot of fun with it and that’s evident in their acting and their dancing.”

Though Stephens has been dancing for 12 years, this was her first foray into choreography. She said it was challenging but exciting.

“(The cast has) been so awesome. They’re really working hard,” she said. “It’s been really exciting to just help them discover a different pursuit.”

King Arthur, played by Asa Sprague, cuts off one of the Black Knight’s legs during rehearsal for Keene Central School’s production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

Robjent said a comedy is the perfect first show for new actors because the genre is forgiving.

“We can kind of lean into our mistakes a little bit, so that’s definitely something that I’ve thrown out to our cast,” they said. “If you make a mistake, play it off. It doesn’t really matter. It’s a pretty fun show to begin with.”

Though Robjent is the student director, they said the show belongs to the actors.

“A lot of the ownership does fall to the actors and the people who are building the show. … I am the person who gives ideas and kind of jumpstarts the audience, but it really is their show,” they said. “I think that being in your comfort zone is really important, but then you won’t grow unless you step into that stretch zone. So, as a director, I think it’s important for me to be supportive of people in their stretch zones.”

Stephens said theater is all about connection.

“Theater, I think, just has the opportunity to really connect with the audience on a different level because it’s actually this story that people can really easily relate to and have a lot of fun with,” she said.

After graduating from KCS this year, both seniors plan to attend college.

Robjent will attend Westminster University in Salt Lake City to major in outdoor education and leadership and minor in technical theater. They hope to direct again in the future.

Stephens just finished auditioning for Bachelor of Fine Arts programs in dance and is waiting to hear back from them. Her top choices are Adelphi University and Montclair State University.

“Spamalot” will be performed in the KCS auditorium tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults and $20 for families.