Our season theme is "From Screen to Stage", taking inspiration from television, film, and media for our productions. This past fall, we saw the 1950s' film D.O.A. and 1960s film The Night of the Living Dead as a "Double Feature" on our stage, along with rolling credits!
Now, we take our cue from print media, television, film and streaming content for this production. For more fun facts about the background for the show, check out some history on the next page from our Dramaturg, researching the background of The Addams Family.
Depending on your own generation, you may remember The Addams Family from the original strip published in 1938 in the New Yorker, while others may recall the 1960s television series, The Addams Family or The Addams Family Values movie, or the currently running popular series "Wednesday" currently streaming online.
No matter the context, everyone seems to love the quirky, dark humor of Charles "Chas" Addams and the family's characteristic of being macabre without realizing that it appears unusual to everyone else. To them, it is normal to be an outsider, misunderstood, and looked at with an eye of skepticism.
It is their nature of being an "outsider" that draws us to them. I'm drawn to The Addams Family, along with the obvious delightful macabre, because of their strong connection to each other.
That might explain why according to NPR, it is one of the most produced high school musicals. That makes sense because they're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, they're altogether ooky, The Addams Family. And we love them for it.
They're the underdog, unrelenting and unapologetic for being exactly who they are. We should all be so lucky to be that confident in who we are. Perfectly imperfect as a loving, caring, close family. As they say in the show, family first, family last, family always.
It's one of the ways we see ourselves in the theatre department, a second family. And it's why I love my students and this show so much. Please enjoy our rendition of The Addams Family.
SPECIAL THANKS
Principal KD Parman, VPs Liz Mahlum and Adriana Zuniga, and additional support from Kim Castle, Everett Staley, George Bishop, Dara Massoni, RHS Alumni, RHS staff, custodial staff, parents/families/important adults, students, Portland Opera for costumes, Jim Fewer & Southridge HS and Rachel Harry & Hood River HS for costumes, Derek Lane for immeasureable support, and Linfield University for loaning scenery, props, and costumes. Thanks to all involved yet inadvertently left out of the program. Thank you Friends and Contributors to RHS’s Opening Act Theatre Company! A complete list of donors and upcoming productions: www.roosevelttheatre.org
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Additional sound effects credited to:
Ratchet sounds by Joe Deshon on freesound.org
Storm door slam by Voli Vieri
Coins falling by Rufe Como
Thunder sounds by Klank Boeld
Gunshot by Inspector J
Screechy gate by Loaf DV
Wind by Bosk1
Cheeseheadburger
Cyntrix
Green Fire Sound
Save the Date Alert