Director's Note
Last March, a week before our spring drama was due to premiere, we got our costume delivery from the designer. We spent that Friday in wardrobe, trying on every costume piece for every character. It’s always such a hoot for the actors to see their efforts in rehearsal come together with the design elements as the performance approaches. I can still remember, in the last few minutes of the day, everyone lining up on the edge of the stage in costume. They looked so at home onstage, smiling and ready to perform.
By that Sunday, the schools were ordered closed due to the pandemic. We never got a chance to perform that show live, although the actors did put together an amazing radio drama of the production. The costumes, however, were returned without being ever used in performance.
I’ve been directing plays for twelve years and acting in them for even longer. For this year’s production of Edges, we engaged in a largely virtual rehearsal process over Google Meet. As we finally got the chance to rehearse onstage again just this past week, I thought to myself: had I ever gone this long without creating a performance of theater onstage? Had the students? For me, it had been nearly two years, which was the longest stretch in my entire theatre career. The best way to describe the feeling was homesickness.
Edges, then, can be gratefully described as a homecoming. The student actors, as you’ll no doubt see, navigated our unorthodox rehearsal process with aplomb. I also must highlight our student designers, Maria Gamboa and Lily Nguyen, who designed the costumes and set, respectively. Aditri Khadilkar, our assistant director, also took over full directing responsibilities for the number Caitlyn and Haley. The creativity and hard work of the student actors, designers, and crew seemed to be pent up since that final week of rehearsals over a year ago. I couldn’t be prouder of the show we’ve created together.
Please enjoy our production of Edges. And welcome home.
-Rob Gioia, Director
Special Thanks To:
Anissa Arnold
Jean Hill
The Families of our Student Cast, Crew, and Pit
The Edges Production Team
The Herricks High School Custodial Staff
The Herricks High School Faculty, Staff, and Administration
