playbill vip

It takes an extraordinary amount of work to produce a full-length musical. The directors would like to acknowledge the following contributors:

• Dolly Parton, for her music and spirit and being the driving force to create the film and subsequently writing it into a musical with Patricia Resnick;
• Phil Platakis, for his efforts with the vocal direction;
• Jacquie Alunan, for leaping into this project after so many years coaching Poms;
• Quintin Nadig, whose theatre production classes have transformed the way we approach set design;
• Kevin Harriman, for conducting the pit;
• Jon Cohen and Logan Jones, for sharing your talents and experience;
• Gaby Labotka, for help in staging the moments of intimacy and combat;
• Lauren Daniel, for coming back into the fold and accompanying the show, as well as the rest of the musicians lending their skills in the pit;
• the Taft administration, which under Mr. Grishaber has consistently recognized the value of the arts in education;
• the school's engineering team, for doing what they do;
• Vasanth Charles, for managing the accounts that made this show possible;
• Music Theatre International, for the rights for this show and our projects that were cut short by the pandemic;
• All the thrift stores in the Chicagoland area that helped us costume the show on a budget;
• Sean Kiley and the team at Spirit Products, for the company T-shirts;
• Tony and ABC Printing, for steadfastly being our neighborhood printing partner;
• Harry's Lumber, which has helped supply us with building materials once again;
• Our colleagues at Taft, who continue to do amazing work and provide understanding that allows students to take risks while taking on the large responsibilities of performing in a show like this;
• Parents and other family members of the cast and crew, for the support of their children during the entire rehearsal process;
• Bill Skar, who over a decade ago began building the foundation for what Taft Drama has become;
• Ethan Warchol, whose passion and drive for technical theatre is inspiring;
• The whole cast and crew, especially the stage management team, for the dedication and professionalism they have brought to our rehearsals;
• The many artists and educators who helped shape our experiences and influenced our approach to the craft; 
• And last, but not least, our families, who have endured our long hours and dedication and supported this project, understanding our need to create.

Thank you to the audience for supporting the beauty and power of performing arts. Whether these students stay in the field or venture to other endeavors, we know the experiences of doing a high school musical will stay with them forever. And who knows, maybe you’ll be able to say you saw them when…