Director’s Note—The Addams Family
The Addams Family musical premiered on Broadway in 2010 with a story drawn from the original comics that were produced by cartoonist Charles Addams between 1938 and 1988. While there have been many successful adaptations of these beloved characters, including a TV show in 1960s, live action films in the 1990s and most recently the Netflix series, Wednesday, the musical has only grown in popularity since its debut. For the last several years, it has been the most-produced musical in American high schools, and we all now understand why. We have had such fun creating this production for you and I hope you find it as delightful as we do.
This production marks our most ambitious undertaking, certainly since the pandemic, but it marks a very special moment for Wheaton performing arts as the debut use of our orchestra pit, filled with incredible student and adult performers. This school building was finished in 2016, with the auditorium being finished shortly after opening. While there have been many wonderful performances in this incredible auditorium in the 8 years since, this is the first chance to use the orchestra pit and we couldn’t be more excited.
We are extraordinarily proud to present this show to you. The nearly 80 students involved have poured their heart and soul into this show over the last three months. The cast and orchestra were lucky to be led by Choral teacher Ms. Cohen who not only worked closely with the singers, but spent the months collaborating with Keith Tittermary to inaugurate our student pit orchestra program. Along with the tremendous generosity of the six additional MCPS music teachers, including our own Mr. Westbrook-Fritz, we are able to provide this incredible opportunity that benefits the student instrumentalists and all of us.
Like many schools, Wheaton is still rebuilding a program out of the ashes of 2020. If you enjoy the performance and are able to make any additional donations to support future efforts and opportunities for all Wheaton Theatre kids, they can be made in cash or by using our Ludus ticketing website (just click Donation at the top of the page). Thank you to all those who already made generous donations as part of their ticket purchases and please enjoy the show!
--Jessica Speck
About Our Director
Jessica Speck is enjoying her 26th year as a teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools. Over that time, she has directed dozens of plays and musicals and sponsored countless student-directed productions at four MCPS High Schools. She is a triple-certified teacher of Theatre, Mathematics and English. Over the years, she has taught every Theatre course offered in MCPS, all levels of math, ninth, tenth and eleventh grade English and many other courses as needed. In addition to her classroom duties, Mrs. Speck is the lead teacher for the Global Studies Academy. Mrs. Speck is most proud of her two non-theatre productions, a college junior named Olivia and an eleventh grader named Ivy that are still “in development” with the never-ending support and love from her husband, Jason Speck.
Mrs. Speck Would Like to Thank
Dr. Mugge and the entire administrative team, Ms. Spruill and Ms. Flores, Ms. Diaz and the entire main office staff, Mr. Gates and the entire building service team, Mr. McKinney, Ms. Cohen, Keith Tittermary, Ms. Bichard, Ms. Dougherty, Ms. Connaire, Ms. Smith, Ms. Kulick, Bill and Nina Redlin, Noami Kievel and the Churchill High School Drama Club, Chris Culotta, Flo Arnold, Craig Lawrence, Roger Riggle, Ms. Ufko, Mr. Lott and all the parents and caregivers for the cast and crew.
