Dear Audience,
Thank you for joining us at the premiere of ES3's first ever VIRTUAL musical! The years 2020 and 2021 have truly been challenging for performers across the globe, both young and old, professionals and novice. From huge Broadway productions getting shut down, to small community theater groups, like our own, being forced to close their curtains, the COVID pandemic has made the performing arts impossible to continue in their traditional sense.
When our spring musical, The Lion King KIDS, was forced to shut down before we could ever present our play to family and friends, our scholars and directors were devestated. But in the year that Broadway went dark, theater never vanished completely. Our scholars, showing a resilience that many adults could never fathom, quickly had to adjust to attending school online while being separated from friends and family, all while remaining strong and brave as their after school clubs, sports, and programs were cancelled one by one. But as we say in the theater, "THE SHOW MUST GO ON"! And in our case, our 2021 spring show had to go ONLINE!
Each week our actors, having already spent hours on their computers for school, signed into virtual theater Zoom calls to rehearse together, develop their acting skills, and learn how to record virtual scenes for a virtual play. Parents who have never acted themselves, coached their scholars on scene settings and lighting. Family members with no experience in theater helped put together "sets" and costumes for the scholars to use in their scenes. Slowly and surely, our ES3 Thespians and their families worked together remotely to cobble together the virtual program that you are watching tonight.
We are so grateful to all of our theater families for helping to keep the magic of theater alive for their scholars, and supporting our program in ways we would have never thought possible. Our Thespians bring us such great PRIDE and are truly remarkable children. We are so proud of the hard work, dedication, perseverence, and enthusiasm that they have all shown this year in theater. With a little luck, and a lot of vaccinations, we will soon be back in person, on a physical stage, taking our final curtain call in front of a large audience of family and friends. But until then, THE SHOW MUST GO ON(LINE)!
We hope you enjoy the show!
Sincerely,
Krystle Poirier and Molly Wilson
