Greetings Theatre Patrons,
Welcome to the Houlton Middle School Spring Production of Dear Edwina, Jr. On behalf of the cast and crew, I hope that you enjoy an evening of live music and theatre featuring a host of talented students from our community.
The show that you are about to see is a BROADWAY JR. version of a show by the original title (Dear Edwina). BROADWAY JR. is a subsidiary of Music Theatre International, Inc., that focuses on producing show materials for students in grades 6-9. The goal of the BROADWAY JR. program is to expose young performers to the magic of musical theatre.
The musical was written in the 1990s during a BMI Workshop. With no productions, it was finally licensed in 1998 to amateur groups and has since been performed in schools. In July 2006, the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York City, produced Dear Edwina as a special benefit for three performances, directed by Jen Bender and featuring Kate Wetherhead as Edwina.
Dear Edwina premiered Off-Broadway at the DR2 Theatre in New York City, opening November 14, 2008, through April 19, 2009. Directed by Timothy McDonald with choreography by Steven G. Kennedy, the cast featured Janice Mays as Edwina. The production was part of the DR2 Kids series. This production received two 2009 Drama Desk Award nominations, for Outstanding Music (Zina Goldrich) and Outstanding Lyrics (Marcy Heisler). A return engagement ran at the DR2 Theatre from December 11, 2009, to February 15, 2010. Directed by Timothy McDonald with choreography by Steven Kennedy, the cast featured Ephie Aardema as Edwina. The musical played a third holiday season run at the DR2 Theatre from December 17, 2010, to February 25, 2011. Again directed by Timothy McDonald and with Steven G. Kennedy's choreography, this cast featured Courtney Ann Sanderson as Edwina.
We hope that you will consider joining us for our upcoming Spring concerts that will feature the musicians from grades Kindergarten - Twelve from throughout our district. A calendar of upcoming events is included on the back cover of this playbill.
Again, on behalf of the production staff and crew, I thank you for coming to support these students, and we hope you have an enjoyable Spring!
~ Jason Anderson, M.M., M.Ed.
Artistic Director/Producer, "Dear Edwina, Jr."
April 5, 2019
