Notes from the Assistant Director -- Dan Lake
What a show! After taking on historical dramas like Radium Girls, Little Women, It’s a Wonderful Life and (am I allowed to mention it?) Newsies, this spring’s production of the hyper-contemporary comedy Freaky Friday is a totally new experience! We have focused a lot less on discovering period-specific characters, a lot more on staging an energetic, colorful romp through the very different (but interestingly parallel) tribulations of the lives of teens and their parents. The journey has been extraordinary – the pandemic meant that many of our actors were excluded from dramatic stage experiences during the past two years, and learning and growing together over the past few months has offered us opportunities to relearn what the LHS theatre community means to us in 2022. I am so proud of the students’ hard work and the highly enjoyable show they have produced.
Special thanks, of course, to Angela Smithhisler for her tireless creativity and authorship of this show’s visual brilliance; Damon Dye for his genius work elevating the musicianship of each actor, Kate Stadter for her steady vision and for being something of a Swiss army knife in our program, capable of all things; Thomas Scott for their ability to organize such a multifaceted venture and to demand quality at every turn; Emily Jonas for her dance leadership; Malia Smaha and Lauren Hackett for their commitment to making this project special; and to the entire cast and crew of Freaky Friday – you have truly raised the bar for what this group can accomplish together. Congratulations!
Notes from the Director -- Angela Smithhisler
Wow, I can't believe we are really here! Live! In-person! No masks! It's been a long time coming, these past two years of theatre in limbo. Seems like only yesterday we were in the midst of a regular Thursday rehearsal for Newsies when we were sent home for an extended two-week Spring Break, never to return to that production. Now, we're back together, louder and prouder than ever to share our love of live theatre with our school and our community!
The kids in this cast and crew have worked so hard to get where they are today in this production. The actors have learned so much and progressed so far in both their dancing and their vocals. And the crew has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to piece it all together to create the visuals and the set for this show. We are so lucky to have a flourishing theatre program here at Linganore High School, with lots of super enthusiastic students turning out to audition or take part in tech crew, and I am blessed to be at the helm of it all. We all know that these past two years of the pandemic has changed us, for better or for worse, and our students experienced the brunt of that in so many ways. Loss of performance opportunities, decreased socialization, loss of interest in school; the list could go on. But our theatre program gives many students a purpose, a safe space for expression, a fun extracurricular activity to invest in. My only wish is that one day, in my teaching career, the arts become as valued as any of the other academic subjects in school!
At the end of the day, after all is said and done, after hours of long rehearsals and tech Fridays, everything comes together as one cohesive vision, one beautiful final product that the kids are proud of. This production would fail miserably without the guidance and contributions of many people. To my stage manager, Thomas: you have grown so much in the past 4 years. Your unfailing dedication to this program is absolutely seen and appreciated. To Kate, my student director, it was so wonderful being able to work with you on a second production. You are such a hardworking and committed part to this show, and you'll be sorely missed next year. A massive thank you to Kevin Lloyd for all his support in the D-Wing, and to Damon Dye for all of his tireless work on the vocals of this production. Dan Lake, you're finally a senior in your fourth year working with us in the drama program. You're an amazing partner to work with, and we'd be lost without you. Stephanie Hatmaker, thank you once again for AMAZING headshots and in-progress shots. Thank you also to the LHS administration for being so supportive of the arts. To my daughter Caroline, you are such a beautiful young lady, and I am so lucky to have been able to work with you TWICE on the Linganore stage. And to my husband, Justin: you complete me. I would be lost in this big, blue world without you by my side. Thank you for putting up with me and my stresses these past few months, and thank you for always being there to help me when I was overwhelmed.
And thank YOU, the audience, for supporting live theatre in our community!
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