playbill vip

Directors' Note

Hello virtual viewing audience and welcome to the first ever Allentown School District virtual fall drama.

We are John Sechler and Sarah Pastelyak from William Allen High School Theatre Company and Dieruff High School Theatre Company, respectively.

We can all agree that this pandemic has turned our world upside down. For many, if not all of us, we have struggled with being disconnected and isolated as we have mourned together since March, the lack of normalcy in our lives.

But, what is normal after all? If not for nothing else, this pandemic has forced us to reevaluate just that and get creative as we seek new and innovative ways to reinvent “normal.” And that is exactly what we have done with this virtual performance you are about to see.

Typically, we each would have our separate shows at our respective schools.

But we knew that now, more than ever, we needed to band together both for the sake of art and for the sake of human connection.

The original performance pieces you will see are written, directed, and performed all by Dieurff and Allen students centered around the theme of trauma through the pandemic with the idea that there is light at the end of struggling.

We wanted to give a platform for our students’ voices to be heard and allow them to tell their stories through a medium of art that is most expressive and personal to them. The performances are raw, vulnerable and authentic. We would like to thank these students and the members of our creative team for their unwavering trust and dedication to something new-and maybe now normal- in the fall drama world for both Allen and Dieruff.

Please enjoy Traumalogues!

Sarah Pastelyak

Director
Dieruff High School Theatre Company

John T. Sechler

Director

Wm. Allen Theatre Dept.