The beginning of the year 2020 had our little theater world at BHS flying high. We had just put together (in my opinion) probably our best competition one act to date. The show Elephant’s Graveyard received high remarks of praise and glory from our area festival adjudicators. It also took home every possible award from the area festival. Our little theater world was excited to be producing the main stage musical Seussical: the Musical. Many students involved in the production had seen it performed when they were in elementary school (or younger) and had dreams of one day being an actor in the show. We were just a week from our state thespian competition where we were to be performing Elephant’s Graveyard for a whole new audience and new set of adjudicators. We were excited, to say the least. For many of our students it would be their first thespian festival. Then sometime that week in March we got news that the state thespian festival would be cancelled due to the hosting University’s precautions over a virus many of us were just learning about. We were devastated. However, we were left with the hope that it may be rescheduled. A few days passed and we continued rehearsals for Seuss and our final public performance of Elephant’s Graveyard. On March 13, 2020, our world was shattered again when we got news that school was closing for two weeks. We thought this is only a setback we will postpone Seuss and bring the show to life in a few weeks. And now, looking back, that thought seems so naïve. I know in my own little world, and I’m sure for many of our students, the loss of theater and our production was a bitter pill to swallow. Somehow, we moved on and we survived. We clung to the hopes or reviving Seussical. Jen and I attached on hopes of also putting together a Senior Show with this class of seniors that we have grown to love as much as our own children.
As We wrapped up our Senior Show production of Get Smart, we began to plan for an all school spring production. We continued to be faced with many unknowns due to Covid-19. We found that it would not be feasible to continue production of Seussical: The Musical. I began to search for other shows and titles that had the ability to stream if live audiences were not permitted. Then, I discovered this script for Charlotte’s Web and the creative juices started flowing.
I am so proud of our students, embracing this script and my vision of the show. We have live foley arts and live music, including student composed music. We have larger than life characters and incredible story tellers. As with any production there have been ups and downs, last minute cast changes and schedule conflicts. But we have persevered and we have made it to the end of a very challenging school year and we made it to Show Week!
I would like to thank Jen Hess for her support and her trust and faith in me. I want to thank David Byard for his knowledge in the classic TV show and for helping me bring the funny. I want to thank Jared St. Martin Brown for his amazing work adapting our Seussical set, and for being an amazing technical director. Thank you, Rachel Griffith, and her hard-working team for making our show beautiful. I want to thank our supportive parents, some that have been involved in our program for many years, and some who are new to our program including (but not limited to) Rachel Yurkovich, The Cotters, and the Sprouse family. Thank you all for feeding us, and taking care of all the extras that Jen and I find we do not have enough hours in the day for. Rachel, your help in planning so many things over the years, from dinners, to t-shirt, and social media posts has been a life saver to us. Luckily for Jen and me, we get to keep the Sprouse family for a few more years! But a BHS theater without the Cotter family is going to seem a little weird and take some adjusting. It’s the end of an era. But that being said if any of you miss us as much as we will miss you, you’re welcome back anytime! *wink*wink
In addition, I want to thank our administration, Mr. Demotto and the administration at BHS were so supportive in our project and determined to make sure these students got to have a show. Thank you for all of your help and support we would not have a show without you.
Finally, I want to thank my students. My cast and crew, thank you for your talents, your creativity, your willingness to try new things and for bringing my vison to live. You are all so Amazing, so talented, so strong and so brave. “Bravery is one of the many things I learned from you,” my cast, my crew, my friends.
