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  I am, admittedly, not a huge fan of West Side Story. Let’s face it as a high school theatre director the idea of dancing  boys, racial tensions, and death on stage doesn’t sit very well. It’s a great story, but as one director put it “AMBITIOUS” for schools to consider. Be that as it may I can’t escape the beauty of the Bernstein score and the honest, telling lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.  Match that with the Shakespeare turned New York book by Arthur Laurents and the years of theatre/film history because of the original direction by Jerome Robbins and what’s really not to love? So I had to give a shot, ambitious, or not.

 When thinking about a play or musical I almost always want to find something that matters. For me what matters about this show, more than anything, is the simple lyric:

There’s A Place For Us

    Every one of the teenage characters in this play feels trapped. Trapped by circumstances like economics, race, geography, social climate—you name it these kids felt trapped in their Upper West Side neighborhood of New York. A neighborhood which doesn’t exist anymore because Lincoln Center was built right on top of where the Laurents/Robbins team imagined their fictional Jets and Sharks. Their sense of being confined by society leads each character on a search and Tony and Maria believe that there is a place where they belong. They want a place where their love, passion, energy, and excitement can reach its full potential—A Place For Us. That is the journey that unfolds before you tonight, their search for a place.

    The great thing I have found over the past few years is that Glen Allen High School is A Place For Us. Not every student at GAHS is going to wander on to the stage or lurk in the shadows of the light booth, but for those that want it, this can be their place. Theatre is a place for people to express love, passion, energy, and excitement…just like Tony and Maria wanted. It can also be a place of self-introspection, personal growth, and learning to make the most of life’s ups and downs. In the end that’s what I am taking away from this show, a great appreciation for students creating and finding a place. Thanks to the Class of 2013 and 2014 who started this journey in 2010! You have created the elusive Place For Us and for that I will be forever grateful and in awe. 

That is how I see things  From the Director's Chair,

J. Harvey Stone

Director, Jaguar Drama