playbill vip

What are you doing in our swamp?! 

Well, we hope you’ll be enjoying this raucous party-with-a-story adventure. The SCF drama program appreciates your support for the arts and this production. This marks my 25th season as drama advisor here at St. Croix Falls, and what an adventure it has been. This is the second high school musical in this beautiful theater. Our students are so blessed to have such a beautiful facility which has been supported by such a wonderful community! This space allows us a professional approach to theater where we can showcase the talent of our students in a manner where they can express themselves as “Who They’d Be”. For a lot of them, this is the only passion they have, and for others, it's an additional outlet for them, but nonetheless, all students are welcome. We are so glad you are here. 

Shrek! The Musical by Janine Tesorui and music and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, is an adaptation of the 1990 book story and the animated Dreamworks production that was released in 2001. This adaptation includes elements from the book, the original movie, and the sequels. See how many of these quotes you can unpack, like the layers an onion has. There are many. The story unfolds with a bunch of misfit fairytale characters ousted from the perfect land of Duloc. The evil Lord Farquaad, played by Sean Poole, aims to find a queen within the surrounding kingdoms and become king of Duloc. Little does he know that his true love is not what he thought. The fairytale characters are ‘dumped’ into a swamp area outside of Duloc, and our characters meet Shrek, played by Charles Hilario, an ugly ogre, who becomes the characters’ hero by getting them back into Duloc. Along the way, he finds an unsuspecting friend, Donkey, played by Shane Backes. This whimsical character becomes an annoying friend as they journey to deal with Lord Farquaad. In order to get his swamp back, Shrek needs to rescue Princess Fiona, played by Isabelle Van Gundy. Little do they both know that Fiona hides a secret. Shrek! The Musical is full of fun-loving characters who exploit their roles in ways that are sure to make you laugh out loud. 

Directing a musical is much more involved in its production than a normal play. Producing this show posed many challenges from moving from spring to fall, juggling our successful students who are involved in many other programs, navigating work schedules, and organizing all the schedules to be able to rehearse. I am thankful to have such a team of directors to help with this year’s production. Ms. Melissa Bauman, assistant director, learned quickly how the costuming and administrative side of a production works and poses challenges, especially with specialty costumes. But in the end, she has shown us amazing creativity and fun additions to the program, advertising, and costume design. Ms. Joanna Lessard has been a tremendous asset in choreography, costuming, and even recruiting family members to help with all things sewing. Our students are so fortunate to benefit from her dance teaching background, creativity and directing support. Without these two, we would not have a musical to present to you! I am indebted to them for their support. 

A group that generally goes unnoticed during the play but is one of the most important parts of the show is our student tech crew. Their work behind the scenes creating the set, organizing the flow of the show, flying in set pieces, and making this show run smoothly is a feat in and of itself. In addition to the tech crew, we are fortunate to have the expertise of Mr. Chris Chelberg with his assistance in the Theater Tech class that he and I teach. This class teaches students the ins and outs of a production. This class also helped create set pieces and helped with costume concepts, lighting designs, and sound engineering. Just another aspect of the production that edifies what you are seeing on stage.