Welcome to the Strawberry Hill Players' production of The Prom! We are very excited to be the first high school in the area putting on this great show.
The Prom has been on our list of shows to produce here at Stamford High School since it closed on Broadway in 2019. I reached out to the licensing agency in the summer of 2021 to see if the rights would be available and was told that there was a US Tour of the show so they still hadn’t released the amateur rights yet. I tried again at the beginning of this past summer and was told that the rights still hadn’t been released. A month later I received the email that the rights were available to us and we could do the show. At that time, I had a different show that I was ready to move forward with, but couldn’t pass up on The Prom now that it was finally available.
The Prom is a musical with fun music, great dancing, and a powerful message about love and acceptance. The show takes place in a small town in the midwest and the majority of the characters in the show are high school students. There aren’t a lot of shows that you do at the high school level where students can relate so well. Since the show takes place in the modern day, we decided to let the students be an integral part of designing the show. Costumes came from the students' wardrobes, lockers were decorated by the students using them, and Emma’s bedroom was decorated by the student playing Emma. We were also able to go into more depth when it came to character work. Stephen and I spent multiple rehearsals meeting with the different students and talking about their characters. They came up with backstories and furthered the relationships of the characters past what is written in the script. This is a process we do every year, but the kids had added a lot more depth and experience to the characters in this particular show.
Love, acceptance, and the freedom to be yourself are not only the themes of this musical but also values that represent the Strawberry Hill Players. Year after year, we work with amazing students who come together and form a family no matter what their differences may be. In addition to working with so many great students on this production, I have to thank the other adults who have brought this show to life with me. First, I would like to thank Annie Dunn who is in her first year as the Strawberry Hill Players’ faculty advisor. She has jumped right in and has helped with many aspects of this show including doing the costumes for it. My choreographer, Caitlin, and Music Director, Jerold, are back with us for their second year. Thank you for making the students sound good and for making the dances so much fun! I would also like to thank Stephen Emerick, for being the assistant director again for this production. His involvement in the Strawberry Hill Players over the last couple years has really made a huge impact on this program and on this show. Finally, I need to thank the most important people to this program, the students. Their dedication to this production has truly been amazing. Not only are the students extremely talented, but they are also passionate, eager to learn, and supportive of each other. Working with these students makes all the long hours and hard work worth it.
Thank you for being here to support these great kids and the Strawberry Hill Players. Sit back, relax and enjoy our production of The Prom.
Tommy DeSalvo
Director
