Greetings!
Thank you for joining us this evening! We began this journey to Castlewood back in October. I wanted to find a way to highlight and celebrate the students who have taken multiple levels of theatre classes with me at SMCS while also giving a hands-on experience to my Youth Theatre Stagecraft class. I gave the cast the task of finding a show that they feel would both allow them to shine and along with providing a challenge to them. They searched for several weeks and came to the conclusion that the material out there just wasn't the right fit for them right now in a black box setting. I then reached out to several playwrights, telling them about my unique group of students, asking if they had a new work that would be relevant for high schoolers to bring to life. Several playwrights responded but one script in particular caught my eye: Castlewood. Bethany told me the script was being workshopped at the University of Idaho's MFA program but that a revised script would be available by the new year. I took the draft to my students, and we read through it. The rest is history!
It has been such a privilege to delve into this story. We have learned about the London Blitz, studied 1940's culture, and much more. As we have studied the script and prepared all the production elements, we come to find that we relate to Winnie, Edwin, and Fern, sometimes in ways we didn't expect. I personally would like to dedicate this production to my mother, Julia French, who passed away this past November. She was always a champion of the arts, cheering on myself and my students through countless productions over the years. She embodied the best traits of Edwin during her life, often literally saying "Let us be festive!" as he does in this play. She loved holidays and celebrating people. In fact, the red wagon that you see belonged to her and I know it would have brought her great joy to know that she got to play a small part in the telling of this story. I pray that this is a beautiful tribute to the love and enthusiasm she had for supporting artists of all kinds. I would like to thank my students, who gave me the inspiration to come back to work despite my grief. I feel so blessed to have been your teacher and director.
I would like Bethany Paulsen for trusting my students and I with this world premiere of a work that I know you completely poured yourself into writing. I would also like to thank Eric Conner, the SMCS Fine Arts Director and Technical Director for this production. He graciously worked with my stagecraft class to teach them about lighting, sound, and set building elements, giving them hands on ways to apply the skills. Without his contributions, this production would not have been possible. A huge thanks to ZFab for making it possible to bring our playwright here to work with our students. I am very grateful to the SMCS administration, Patti Fouts in particular, who has been very supportive of us exploring this new approach to theatre education as I have developed the theatre curriculum for SMCS for the past 3 years. Lastly, I would like to express a deep gratitude to my wonderful husband and sons who have been so patient and understanding about the nights and weekends I've had to be out late preparing things for this production.
My hope for all of you, the audience, is that you would be able to immerse yourself into the world of Castlewood and beyond and walk away feeling a renewed sense of energy and hope to embrace the reality of the life God has given you to live.
With Deepest Gratitude,
Jessica Lynn French, Director
