Notes from the Director:
Tonight marks three years from being absent from the stage: our last live show was in April of 2019. It is great to be back providing live theater for the Preble Community. The road to opening night has been very challenging as we had to navigate many obstacles placed in front of us, but we are here, and we hope you enjoy the show.
The concept of this show is to set this tragedy in New York of the 1970's. In the early-mid seventies, the city of New York was parallized with crime and an inefficient police and government system. Youths to the streets as gang violence soared in the city. Also, at this time, there was an explosion of music. In dowtown, a new agressive form of rock-n-roll was born at the CBGB with the birth of punk. Downtown in Manhatten the popularity of disco helped to fuel the interest of the dance club. In many of the bureaus, reggae, blues, and glam rock became popular. It was the era of Springsteen and Billy Joel, Led Zepplin and KISS, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. It was a time of great artistic promise that was created in a city that was devolving.
The thought of marrying Romeo and Juliet to this time was intriguing because many of the concepts from the play matched what was happening in the Big Apple. Within our show, we wanted to infuse the different styles of that era to the story. We wanted to "try" to replicate the fashons of the period. Finally, we wanted to create a world that stayed true to the Bard, while making the story fresh and new.
Thanks to everyone who put their heart and soul into the show. Thanks to Mr. LeCaptain, Ms. Doll, Mr. Hinkle, and Mr. Jackson who agreed to perform in this show even though this is the first time for many of them to be on stage. For this show, it was important to see the juxtaposition of adults and young adults within the context of the show, and this is one of the first shows at Preble where we had an intergrated cast with staff and students. Second, thanks to all the students on the stage and behind the stage their time to contribute to this show, and their parents who helped to ensure that they were at practice. Finally, to my family, who supported me through the many years at Preble. To my wife, Jeanne, who managed to juggle family life during our productions, and our sons - Jack and Atticus who readjusted to life during play season.
We hope that you enjoy our show. Thank you for supporting theater at Preble.
Michael J. Schuh
Director
