playbill vip

To Our Audience,

When choosing shows the director looks at various aspects of how the show will work for their school and community.  As Mr. Dover and I began to look at possible shows for this year we considered voices, size, technical limitations and what actors/actresses do we have that could possibly fill the roles.  We started with a list of 20 shows which quickly shrunk to 5.  Neither of us were really pulled to any of those shows.  Then we attended the International Thespian Festival with the thespians last summer.  We were able to see the show Bright Star performed by a high school cast from Florida.  After the show I was speechless.  The themes of the play were so real and so full of truth that I wanted to see my students perform this show.

In Bright Star, our protagonist Alice Murphy relives her past as she longs to find hope in her furture.  The show asks the question, "Is it possible to find redemption from a mistake in your yourth?"  In my view of the show, the answer is yes.  Our design from beginning to end was contingent on the idea of a life that is being held in limbo.  The set is partially built due to the fact that she can't move on with her life becasue she is searching for her child.  The scenes are bathed in darkness due to the portions of her past that won't let her move into the light of the future.  As I constantly tell our cast, you can make a mistake that is devastating to you but it is how you come back from that mistake that decides who you are as a person.  

The cast of over 50 students acts as the community that watches, judges, rejoices and supports the characters on stage.  They are meant to be seen just as we know that our community watches as we move through our lives.  I hope you enjoy our production of Bright Star and you walk away with a little bit more hope of how we can all overcome the obstacles that fall into our paths.  I hope you find your bright star to shine for you.