About the director...
Joni Smithwick is in her first year at South Forsyth High School. She teaches Advanced Drama and Drama Fundamentals and hopes to add more next year. Although new to the South Forsyth family, she is not new to theatre. Joni had a passion for performing that came to light early in life, and she was in her first play in fifth grade. Since then, she has performed a wide variety of roles from Velma Kelly in "Chicago!" to Marian Paroo in "The Music Man." After earning an AFA and a BFA in Musical Theatre, she began to pursue a M.Ed in Secondary Education, so that she could pass on her love of theatre to future generations. This led her to South Forsyth High School as the program's associate director under the leadership of Kirk Grizzle.
Directing "Grease" has definitely been a learning experience for Joni as this is her first time directing a musical, but she couldn't have asked for a better cast, better techies, or a better program director to learn from. She is so proud of the cast and crew of this show, and she hopes that you will enjoy all of the hard work that was put in!
Joni feels beyond blessed to be a part of the South Forsyth Performing Arts family, and she hopes that "Grease" will be the first of many directing opportunities to come.
Special Thanks
Amy Ruiz
Kim Graves
Lauren Riner
Tammy King
Mary Beth Martell
LaDonna Scott
Monique & Peter Gullo
Greaser Parents
SFHS Faculty and Staff
SFHS Administration
Samuel French
SFHS Fine Arts Department
Mrs. Smithwick would like to thank her stage manager, Olivia Incorvaia, for all of her hard work these past few months. She couldn't have done it without her!
She would also like to thank her parents, Mickey and Lanita Lloyd and John and Lora Wakefield, for always believing in her and encouraging her to follow her dreams. Because of that, she believed in herself.
Next, she would like to thank Kirk Grizzle for taking a chance on her and accepting her with open arms into his award-winning program. She feels incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful mentor and aspires to be as great a director as he is one day.
Finally, she would like to thank her husband, Brandon Smithwick, for his unwavering support these past few years getting to this point in her career. She couldn't have done it without him, and she is so thankful to have him by her side.
