We want to thank the following people and companies for providing student scholarships and/or products for ELF! The Musical
Mel and Sherry Dunn
Anonymous Donor
Audrey Neumiller and Aaron Shrader
GJHS ALT
Josh Vig
Home Depot
Hot Tomato
Darrin Knowles- Goat Daddy Welding
GJHS Staff and Families for Christmas Donations
Karen Provenza
Justin Whiteford
Notes From the Director:
Each year, as I sit to write these notes, I am more and more swept away by the power of community and the talent of these young people. The cast, crew, parents, and GJHS staff have worked tirelessly to bring this story to life for you. We are all thrilled to be presenting Elf the Musical Live on stage when schools across the country still have their theatres dark/closed.
I would like to personally recognize the support of the GJHS and GMMS Performing Arts Department and volunteers (Brad Hirsh, Nicole Roos, Isaac Lavadie, Francisco Castaneda, Lana Rogel, Katie Stiles, and Molly Pietroski) and the Pomona Elementary Schoool Music Department (Kalinda Theobold and her talented students), I would also like to thank the D51 Sign language interperters for working overtime and joining our crazy theatre community to provide assistance for our students.
These teachers are the some of the hardest working and the most talented teachers in the district...and I am SO lucky to have them on our team for Elf. I also would like to thank the GJHS Admin and my teacher peers for their support of theatre in our schools.
In September we started with a blank stage, a cast of 52 people, a group of collaborative theatre artists and stage technicians and a vision of how we could bring this story to life. Together, we have experienced the wonder of transformation as we worked to bring this wacky Christmas story to the stage. We hope that you, too, feel part of the theatre family and Elf family.We are very grateful you are here and hope you enjoy our retelling of this Christmas favorite.
Sincerely,
Audrey Neumiller
Notes From the Assistant Director:
It has been an absolute honor working with these talented students on Elf: The Musical! The amount of hard work, and talent on this stage, and behind the scenes, is remarkable. I have enjoyed the entire process, from auditions, to performances, and watching these students grow as artists.
I also want to acknowledge Miss Neumiller for taking me under her wing during my graduate studies course for theater education and trusting me to be the assistant director for Elf.
Please enjoy the show, and remember, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”
Sincerely,
Molly Pietroski
