Director's Note:
As I have spent these past 4 months with this cast, crew, and pit, I have come to see some truly incredible moments of growth not only in talent and skills, but also in dedication and love for the craft of theatre. Our students have shown resiliance as the creation of this show has changed around them time and time again. They have developed and perfected skills that at the start of everything in January, they claimed loudly not to have! And yet through everything, this group of students has come together to show you their final creation that is this full production of Anastasia.
Anastasia has evolved and grown all on it's own as both a show for entertainment purposes along with mirroring the very evil current events happening in our world today. This is a show that has allowed all of us to see that history does indeed repeat itself in some of the most horrible ways possible. Families murdered and torn apart, memories lost, and journeys to the past in ways so incredibly painful, yet rewarding and healing as time and love are applied to these wounds. It is a story of families, both by blood and by choice, coming together to help heal one another to become the best versions of themselves as they can be. It is a story of refugees fleeing their beloved homeland just to gain the right to live without fear. And finally, it is a story of a country beaten and bloody all for one singular thing; greed. Trauma that can never be undone and a legacy of terrible rulers put in place one after another. As we watch the story of Anastasia on this stage today, please also see Ukraine and it's story as part of what we are experiencing right now and involve yourself in ways to help as yet another war is waged and lives are lost. I've included the names of different organizations you can get involved with to help in any way you possibly can.
- Doctors' Without Borders
- Razom for Ukraine
- Sunflowers for Peace
- The Hungarian Helsinki Committee
- The Association for Legal Intervention
To our lovely chaos trio, I hope that this production has brought you as many laughs and triumphent moments as it has brought me and the rest of the directors as we worked with you.
To my dedicated understudies, I see you and your work to help support our show in so many ways and some of them not even something our audiences can see!
To my seniors, while I know this experience may be your last here at WHS, it is just the start of you and your time creating into your adulthood and beyond!
And finally to you, our wonderful audience, I hope you enjoy the beautiful and spectacular story of a girl who loses who she is, only to find herself along with her family as she journeys to past and onwards to find her future.
- Samantha Nichols, Director
