playbill vip

  Andrea Mashman, Director & Choregrapher
Once in a while, you get the opportunity to experience something really amazing and life changing for students as an educator/director.  I feel like I am the super lucky one, because I get to experience something amazing every year during musical.   Three months ago, we held auditions with some wonderful ideas in our heads about how the show would “look.”  Here we are now, with a beautiful show, a beautiful set, and a wonderful group of parents and students that made it happen.  Every night in circle, we say “there is magic in the theatre and the theatre is magic” and I can honestly say that this is an amazing expression in the process of creating a musical.  We get to take a script…just words and music on paper...and turn it into an amazing, moving, living work of art.  It is truly amazing to watch it happen almost right before your eyes.  It is a joy to watch these kids take almost nothing and turn it into something magical and meaningful.  It is especially profound in this musical where the message is so awesomely displayed.  Shrek is a wonderful story about finding your inner beauty and individuality.  In a world where our children want desperately to fit in and “be pretty,” we have gotten to create a world and a message that being different is beautiful.  We are all fearfully and wonderfully made - all our differences and our likenesses are truly beautiful.  All this, of course, could not happen without an amazing team and a huge group of parent volunteers that make this possible.  David Barker, Michael Kessler and Zach Foster have quickly become my “work brothers” and I am forever grateful for their expertise, professionalism and the “occasional” chuckle that make my work not seem like work.  To our parent volunteers—Mark and Diane, Lisa, Pam, Arwen, Lauretta and Jim, Bernie and Nancy, Alli, Toni….just to name a very few (please see our huge list of set and costume builders!) have been incredibly supportive wonderful friends through this process!!  To our amazing administrative team, Lynn Walker, John Palombo, Audie Johnson and Tom Bell, thank you for your advice, support and encouragement throughout this process! To my sweet family-thanks for always understanding that “I’m not grumpy, it’s just musical season.”  And finally, to you, our awesome audience-thank you for sharing this wonderful show with us!  It is magical, and fun, and will be brought to life because of your laughter and applause.  We appreciate you!

  Michael Kessler, Musical Director

This has been a tough school year. We've had hurricanes, eclipses, snowstorms, and freezes on top of the daily struggles of our lives. It would be really easy for someone to get into a negative and pessimistic mindset. I know I've found myself feeling that way from time to time. But then I find myself at a rehearsal for Shrek and I'm reminded that it's a Big, Bright, Beautiful World. There's happiness all around us if we're willing to look for it. I'm so fortunate and grateful that I don't have to look very far. I'd like to thank a few people who make my world a little bit brighter and more beautiful. I'd like to thank Andrea Mashman, Zach Foster, David Barker and Brian Logan for being the best collaborative team I could imagine. I want to thank John Palombo, Audie Johnson, Lynn Walker, and Tom Bell and the rest of our administrative team for their continued tireless support. I would like to thank all of our parent volunteers who put in countless hours building the set and making the costumes. This show would have been impossible without their help. I'd like to thank the cast and crew for their incredible commitment to excellence, their selfless performances, and for how generously they have given their time for this show. I would also be remiss if I didn't thank Ashley, my partner in crime. I would be lost without her. She supports me in my moments of failure, she celebrates with me in my moments of triumph, and she is always understanding when I'm home late (usually from musical rehearsal). Finally, I'd like to thank you for coming tonight. We hope you enjoy the performance and thank you for helping us let our freak flag fly!