NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR
Welcome to Reading High School and to our performance of In The Heights. We are so glad to be back on stage singing, dancing, telling stories, and forming a community. We have worked hard over the past three months to create a fun and compelling musical. We hope you enjoy the show.
Covid-19 changed all of our lives in profound ways. After two years we have finally made it back to where we were in March 2020. Ask any performer what they missed most and it will likely be performing in a group. There’s a magic when we are all together in the same space making music. It’s been wonderful to rediscover those feelings and experiences.
In The Heights is a story about community. It shares the experiences of those who came to NYC from D.R., P.R. and other Latin-American countries. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind. There is so much in this story that our cast and crew can connect with. It’s real life issues that are effecting us right now.
We have spent the last three months creating our music theatre family. Many hours of rehearsal go into creating a show and we have learned, struggled, laughed, sweat, and loved through all of them. There was so much love and excitement when creating this show. Everyone showed up daily ready to go. It was the highlight in an other wise difficult year back at school.
Finally, a truly successful production involves more than what is presented onstage. We would not have gotten to this point if it wasn't for the cooperation, respect, commitment, and teamwork, of the students, their parents, our faculty/staff/administrators, the RSD central administration, and the Reading community. It amazes me that when we asked, you gave us the resources to get our show started. It thrills me even more that you are sitting in the audience here tonight. I hope you enjoy our show and I hope you will continue to support the arts in our schools.
Sincerely,
Joseph S. Smith
Director, Reading High Music Theatre
