A Note from the Director:
Coming out of 2019 and into 2020 the MHS Drama Club was having one of its most successful seasons. Having just closed Elf the Musical to three sold-out shows and many audience members returning time and time again. Little did we know how our lives would change just two short months later. Coming back into live theatre in 2021/2022 has been filled with its own unique set of challenges. We’ve had so much new energy come into our program, I want to take a minute to celebrate and acknowledge it:
A New Music Director
A New Accompanist
A New Sound Engineer
A New Lighting Designer
A Brand New Pit Band
24 New Actors to the Musical at MHS
This is the year of rediscovery and change, and while change is challenging for some, I encourage you to embrace change head-on. This program sure embraced it and the change has allowed us to refocus on what is really important - building connections with the humans around us. This cast of 38, crew of 36, pit band of 13, and creative team of 4 have built a connection that will stick with us for a long time. I could not think of a better show to bring our team together. “It’s Family First, and Family Last, and Family By and By…” You’ll hear these lyrics in our opening number and they have guided us through our entire performance.
As a teacher, this is the most challenging year; as a director, this year is one of the best. Our family unit has changed and grown, but together we have created something really special. I’d like to say “thank you” to each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for showing up every day, being vulnerable, and creating magic together. In the closing song of the show we leave you with this, “Only at our lowest can we rise above…” This thought has guided me through this process and helped me to reflect on the last two years with fondness because we have come through the darkness and risen, once again, to greatness.
Enjoy the Show!
Stephen Loewen
A Note from the Student Director:
Walking into this performance year all was filled with uncertainty, leaving us with more questions than answers. Yet this is the theater program, our home away from home, and as quickly as the uncertainty arose it was gone. All 38 performers in this show have continued to blow me away each and every day. I am incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication the actors have been putting into their performances at and outside of rehearsals.
As student director, I have gotten to sit in a different chair and see things from a new perspective, something that I now see to be so powerful. I have learned so incredibly much from simply observing and I do not know if the creative directors know how much this experience has meant to me. The talent that dances across this Monroe stage consistently brings me to tears. A warm thank you to all those who support this program and come to see the end product of months of incredible work - we could not do this without you!
This year has brought with it great challenges but also the greatest people I have ever gotten to know. The talent within this program from actors to crew, to the band is unmatchable to anything I have ever known. The arts programs are something so special and so valuable and to have this program here at Monroe will forever leave me grateful. The creative team has created a beautiful family that all of us students can come to when we need them the most. The Addams Family feels as though it is the perfect fit for this cast, as we are all truly one large family. “Who cares about the world outside and what it wants from you when you’re and Addams you do what Addams always do” could not pertain more to this cast and what it means to be a theater kid. This is my family forever and always.
Thank you all for your endless support, you are all my world!
Savannah Rowe
