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NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR--

Wow!  What a journey the past couple of months has been.  I selected this show for a myriad of reasons:  it has everything that I love in a musical.  It has a great story with a meaningful message, it has some fun dance numbers, great music that I have spent hours in my car singing at the top of my lungs, crazy costume challenges, and characters that people of all ages can relate to.  Everyone knows what it's like to feel like a "freak" or feel like being different is wrong.  So when given the opportunity to present a show that reminds us that those differences are actually strengths instead of weaknesses, I wanted to do it.

My favorite part of the show is actually the finale.  Maybe it's because I'm a woman, but I relate to all of the contradictions:  being sweet, being a brat, being a princess, being ugly, being pretty--we are all so much more than a single tagline.  And we all have our own story to tell.  I feel that even though we are telling Shrek's story--and the story of a couple dozen other familiar fairytale creatures--we cannot help but to see that we have our own story to tell as well.  

And so, if you walk away just a little more comfortable in your own skin, if you laugh at the fart jokes, or even if you just feel better about life in general, we will consider ourselves to have been outrageously successful!

And on a final note to all of my seniors--there are so many of you!--thank you for making the past couple of months a wonderful joy for me!  I will miss so many things about each of you, and I am incredibly proud of how very far you have come over the past several years.  Thank you for your incredible leadership, your diligent work ethic, and the fun pandamonium that you (occasionally) cause!  Love you all from the bottom of my heart.  You are, and always will be, awesome sauce!

--Joy Hamilton