BIG FISH ran on Broadway in 2003, featuring direction and choreography by five-time Tony Award® winner Susan Stroman (The Producers, The Scottsboro Boys), music and lyrics by Tony nominee Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family, The Wild Party) and a new book by esteemed screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Catch Me If You Can), Tony nominee Kate Baldwin (Giant, Finian’s Rainbow) and Tony nominee Bobby Steggert (Giant, Ragtime) lead the cast of amazing characters.

Our Production is directed by Salesianum School Director of Arts Aaron Bogad with choreography by Shauna Goodman, Music Direction by Ursuline Academy's Joe Louden, and Technical Direction by Salesianum's Dave Lock. It features the talents of over 30 students from Padua Academy, Ursuline Academy, and Salesianum School.

Based on the celebrated novel by Daniel Wallace and the acclaimed Columbia Pictures film directed by Tim Burton, BIG FISH centers on Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman who lives life to its fullest… and then some! Edward's incredible, larger-than-life stories thrill everyone around him – most of all, his devoted wife Sandra. But their son Will, about to have a child of his own, is determined to find the truth behind his father’s epic tales.

Overflowing with heart, humor and spectacular stagecraft, BIG FISH is an extraordinary musical that reminds us why we love going to the theatre – for an experience that's richer, funnier and BIGGER than life itself.

Salesianum School Theater produces three MainStage shows per year. Our productions are sequenced with the major seasons of the academic year. We present a full scale production in the fall, one in the winter, and one in the spring. Our seasons include contemporary American works, classics from the world canon, classics from the American canon, self scripting or devised theatre, and contemporary works from the world stage. We produce at least one musical annually, typically in the winter. 

We are preparing to add two further opportunities to our students as a part of Salesianum's Summer offerings. These productions will be mounted by a professional theatre company in residence in Spragg Auditorium. Our Junior Company will present William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. This production is aimed at the needs and skills of rising Freshmen through rising Juniors. Our Apprentice Company will present the rock musical Spring Awakening in a production specifically structured to serve our in college alumni, as well as rising Seniors who intend to study theatre in college. 

These projects, and the collaborating professionals, are chosen with the needs of those groups in mind and will produce work, in the style and artistic language of, those students and young alumni. All of our productions are presented by companies or performers, producers, directors, musicians, technicians and staff drawn from Salesianum School as well as our sister schools, Padua Academy and Ursuline Academy. For more information or with any questions about Salesianum School Theater please contact Salesianum’s Director of Arts, Mr. Aaron Bogad at [email protected] or (302) 356-2649

Professional Staffing

Salesianum School Theater has two full time staff members (Artistic Director Mr. Aaron Bogad and Technical Director Mr. David Lock). Additional professional staff members are brought on per the needs of the productions. For our MainStage musicals Music Direction is provided by Mr. Joe Louden (Faculty at Ursuline Academy).

Season Outline

During 2016-2016 Salesianum School Theater will be presenting:

Peter and the Starcatcher

Big Fish

Our Town

These three shows all deal with how life is lived in moments, but remembered far outside of those moments. The measures of a life well lived can be made by those living the life, or those who observe it. In either respect, an awareness of the beauty and value of any given moment, and how much of a difference can be made by the story told about that moment, is at the center of our work this year. 

In support of the institutional theme of “Bend Don’t Break” we will also be examining how these many moments are what contribute to our strength, to our ability to withstand the challenges they themselves present.