Imagine a place where you are FREAK if you aren’t wearing the “right” clothes; where you are judged based on how you look rather than who you are; a place where anything different is bad and where having a special talent makes you “weird.” This imaginary place could be the Kingdom of Duloc in Shrek, the Musical, or it could be any middle school anywhere.
In Shrek, our favorite childhood characters have been deemed FREAKS because they look different. Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, Peter Pan and the rest have been thrown out of the kingdom - not because of anything they have said or done - but because they just don’t look like everyone else. Shrek himself has been taught from an early age to live alone - far away from others, or he will be chased by mobs. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He just doesn’t look “right.”
I’m proud to be a member of the Pal-Mac community where our kids are educated about these hurtful prejudices and are shown how deeply teasing, body shaming and cyberbullying can hurt. I’m proud that the message of acceptance - by yourself and others - is the central theme of this show. When all of laughter has died down, the applause has finished and we return home, I hope these kids will remember THIS IS OUR STORY. We can make a difference to the people around us everyday by reminding ourselves to look for the layers - in onions, parfaits and friends - and always, always LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY.
A HUGE shout out to this FANTASTIC cast! I've know most of you since your Primary School days - and I'm so proud of the young men and women you have become. A special thanks to the most AMAZING production team a director could possibly have and especially to my HS peeps Katie, Morgan, Holden and Sawyer.
- Mrs. Cindy Hill
