I didn't know if I wanted to direct this year's show.  With COVID that is understandable.  The fact is, the pandemic did a good job of making us disconnect.  We were forced to separate, avoid each other, and even mistrust in some cases.  And who would want to deal with all the restrictions that come along with a pandemic.  No large group rehearsals…masks…social distancing…quarantines.  And, if I am being honest, students are not the same.  Their passion and their work ethic has changed, and for many they have had to relearn how to be part of an experience and passionate about what they are doing.  You get the sense that there is an apathy and a malaise that we have lived in for two years now, an apathy and malaise that we still don't understand the repercussions of.

Overcoming my own apathy, and most likely depression, I knew that taking on this show was bigger than what you would see on the stage.  This is not something we would do, this is something we all needed.  Theatre is a communal experience, and it is not just a community that happens the day of the show.  Theatre is a community that is built day by day, rehearsal by rehearsal.  The ancient Greeks used theatre to reintroduce soldiers to society after battle.  After suffering the tremendous trauma of war, the soldiers would be slowly reintroduced by processing the experience through theatre, hiding their identities behind masks.  Now, I find history repeating.  The trauma of two long years working itself out on the stage, slowly breaking down our comfort in distance and forcing us to reconnect and process what we have experienced.

So the only question now was, what show?  Theory of Relativity is actually one of the more popular high school shows.  People don't really know that.  Logistically, this was the right show.  The show would need to be COVID proof, and Theory of Relativity is basically that.  The structure, a musical song-cycle driven by songs rather than characters, I was able to break the show up.  We were able to double cast and even double, guaranteeing that the show would go on no matter what.  With the flood, however, this would ultimately be the shortest amount of time we ever had in the history of TheatreWorks to put on a musical.  Thankfully the adults stepped up… connected, if you will… and not only did the brilliant Sarah Mae Lagasca and our amazing Arts Director, Deepak Marwah, agree to help teach the music so we could break into smaller COVID friendly groups, Ms. McGough, Ms. Talbot, and Mr. Ehrenreich were able to break up the responsibilities, multitasking a show together and connecting parts like the connections at the heart of our show.  And I also saw the opportunity to turn the monologues in our show over to two Seniors, Aileen O’leary and Molly Smith, so that in a show without leads, Molly and Aileen, both affected by the cancellation of Head Over Heels in 2020, could own a part of their senior year musical.

Still, for me I saw a show that is a blank canvas that allows us to create an experience of connection not only for the cast but also for the audience.  My concept, set in a school, invites us all back in to the classroom after COVID.  Together, we hear the individual stories of the different characters, but we also see how our lives impact each other.  As the final song will sing, “I am nothing without you.”  We are all connected in a complex tapestry, coexisting in the same world, and while the stories might be different, the themes are something we can all relate to.  And hopefully by the end you will have made a connection with someone, whether in the show, sitting next to you, or in our greater community.  
So, grab your pens and pencils, get ready to take notes, because class is about to begin.  You might be tested at the end, so pay attention, and, most importantly, welcome back.

The Arts Department of New Rochelle High School is an expansive program that integrates Visual Art, Media Arts, Music, Dance and Theater Arts, and also provides an impressive Performing and Visual Arts Education Program (PAVE), which enables students to major in the Arts. As the largest department of its kind in Westchester County, the NRHS Arts Department encourages students to appreciate this multicultural environment and to bring their own unique cultural perspective to their work. In addition, the department emphasizes differentiated instruction, in order to address the diverse learning needs of all students without compromising the essential knowledge and skills students are expected to learn. We are a forward looking department: Our Arts wing houses a dance studio, music rooms, computer graphics lab, and specialty art rooms including sculpture and ceramic studios, a kiln room, and a photography studio equipped with a dark room. We take pride in the fact that many of our talented teachers are exhibiting artists and practicing performers, who are devoted, life-long learners. They encourage our students to exhibit work in our Museum of Arts and Culture, as well as to participate in public shows and to perform regularly in our theater productions.


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