playbill vip

Depicting the magic and absurdity of Dr. Seuss in musical form requires more than just a directorial vision – one needs a cast and a team full of style and heart who can “bring the funk”! Without my wonderfully talented partner, Assistant Director and Director of Choreography & Movement – Catrina Coffey, we’d not have this stellar performance you are about to or have just experienced! She is the most efficient person I know, whilst also being creative and brimming with ideas and resourcefulness. I have had the pleasure of working with her on the last, now, four, Mount Theater productions, and this choice of Seussical is in many ways my expression of gratitude to her. Thank you, Catrina, for your assistance and for being my sounding board for all things performing arts at Mount. Catrina’s love of Ahrens’ and Flaherty’s Seussical has been THE inspiration for my personal creative process on this show and all the wonderment floods our production in every move our cast members make, thanks to her. I’ll forever call Seussical the animated operetta as it is a story told in the music from start to finish and is sure to tug at heartstrings in more than one moment.

As you all sit back to enjoy the show, I ask you to keep this Dr. Seuss quote in mind – it has been a great motto for me while creating this production, and I think it is great advice for those watching: ‘If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too.’ I hope you have as much fun watching Seussical as we have had preparing it for you!

Thanks, and Congratulations to Michael Wall for his pit directorial debut. And to Michael and Catrina’s daughter Jill, brava, thank you for being the BEST (and most adorable) Elephant Bird ‘there ever HAS been!’ Gracious thanks to Gabrielle Cialdella and Katherine Mera who have been our die-hard ‘crewbies’ from start to finish!

To our greatest supporter and Directress Sister Lisa, thank you for standing behind us in all our grandiose requests for this department and production- we are Mount Theater and it’s all thanks to you! To our Assistant Directresses Jacqueline Muratore and Denise Materia, thank you for your unwavering support in our journey to build the program and open performance opportunities to all Mount students. For assistance in creating this wonderful playbill, l thank Kathy McGroarty, Maryann Brown, and Catrina Coffey.  A huge thank you to all the incredible students, parents, teachers, and staff who have helped by bringing their own visions and ideas to the project resulting in a final performance that we can all feel proud of.

Mia Pafumi