FLORIDA REP EDUCATION 2017 - 2018 CONSERVATORY HISTORIC ARCADE THEATRE • FORT MYERS RIVER DISTRICT JASON PARRISH, INTERIM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR · JOHN MARTIN, MANAGING DIRECTOR KODY C. JONES, EDUCATION DIRECTOR PRESENTS SPONSORED BY MARVIN AND LYNNE BIRDT DIRECTED AND FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHED BY KODY C. JONES MUSIC DIRECTOR CHOREOGRAPHER ROSALIND METCALF MEGAN JIMENEZ LEONARD SET DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER COSTUME DESIGNER JORDAN MOORE ANDREW McDANIELS JACQUELYN LOY SOUND DESIGNER PROPERTIES MASTERS KATIE LOWE JORDAN GARON · JESSECA TERHAAR PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER CAYCELYNN HOGGARD Heathers The Musical (High School Edition) is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. FLORIDA REP EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS ARE GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY The Claiborne & Ned Foulds Foundation • Marvin & Lynne Birdt • Dinah Bloomhall Sanibel Captiva Community Bank • Arthur M. Zupko CAST (in alphabetical order) Ensemble................................................................................HALEY ADKINS Ensemble............................................................................ERICA AICHHOLZ Ensemble.....................................................................HANNAH ATKINSON Veronica Sawyer......................................................................NAYDA BAEZ Ensemble..............................................................................NYDIA BROWN Ensemble...........................................................................TAYLOR CARUSO Hipster Dork/Ensemble........................................................CHASE CLARK Ms. Fleming................................................................................HALEY CLAY Principal Gowan/Ensemble.......................................................LEXIE COLE Coach Ripper/Mom/Ensemble....................................AMANDA COLLINS Ensemble..........................................................................ABBY CORCORAN Ensemble......................................................................BRADEN DOWNING Preppy Stud/Ensemble................................................MATTHEW EAKINS Ensemble..........................................................................BERKLEY GADDIS Big Bud Dean/Ensemble.......................................................GIANNI GIZZI Ram’s Dad.......................................................................................AJ GROSS Ensemble............................................................................SOPHIA GURULE Stoner Chick/Ensemble....................................................SOPHIE HAGAN Heather Chandler.............................................................ATHENA KELLEY JD.......................................................................................BRICE KINGSLEY Ensemble................................................................................VIOLET MANN Martha Dunnstock............................................................JESSE MASSARI New Wave Girl/Ensemble...........................................ALYSSA MEHRBERG Kurt’s Dad/Dad/Ensemble...................................................JESSE MILLER Young Republicanette/Ensemble.................................DANICA MURRAY Beleaguered Geek/Ensemble.............................................NATHAN ROSS Kurt Kelley...........................................................................ROBERT ROSSO Heather Duke.............................................................................CHLOE TSAI Ensemble..................................................................................MIA WAGNER Ram Sweeney......................................................................SCOTTY WELLS Heather McNamara...............................................................CAT WESTLEY Assistant Director: Emma Woods Assistant Choreographer: Christina DeCarlo Assistant Stage Manager: Matteo Occhino Dance Captains: Emily Longoria, Alyssa Mehrberg Production Manager: Tim Billman Technical Director: Drew Johnson Asst. Technical Director: Savannah Relos Lighting and Sound Director: John Kiselica Sound Engineer: Josh Schacht Costume Shop Manager: Alex Vazquez Wardrobe Supervisor: Sara Lynn Scott Light/Sound Board Operator: Andrew McDaniels Run Crew: Hannah Robinson, Gabriele Steinborn Education Director: Kody C. Jones Education Outreach Manager: Anna McCullers Education Associate: Christina DeCarlo Education Intern: Emma Woods WARNING CONTAINS SOME ADULT MATERIAL AND LANGUAGE HEATHERS THE MUSICAL WILL BE PERFORMED WITH A 15-MINUTE INTERMISSION The videotaping or making electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production or distributing recordings on any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author’s rights and actionable under United States Copyright Law. For more information, please visit: www.samuelfrench.com/whitepaper ABOUT THE WRITERS KEVIN MURPHY was a producer of the original LA and NY productions of Heathers (Drama Desk nominee for music). He also provided lyrics and co-wrote the book for the stage musical Reefer Madness and was a producer on both the original Los Angeles and Off-Broadway productions. Reefer swept the three major Los Angeles theatre awards which included triple wins for Best Musical and Best Score. In New York, Kevin’s lyrics were nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Kevin co-adapted Reefer into a Showtime Original movie which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and screened in competition at the 2005 Deauville Film Festival, winning the Premiere Audience Award. The movie received three Emmy noms, winning for Outstanding Music & Lyrics. Kevin is currently showrunner for the AMC historical drama series The Son starring Pierce Brosnan. Other TV credits include Desperate Housewives (Golden Globe winner, two-time WGA Award nominee, Emmy nominee), Defiance, Ed, Reaper, Caprica and Hellcats. Kevin has co-written many songs for these shows, most recently “Across the Storm Divide” (recorded by Trace Adkins) and “Teach This Boy to Fly” (co-written with Laurence O’Keefe), both of which were featured on Defiance. LAURENCE O’KEEFE was a producer of the original LA and NY productions of Heathers (Drama Desk nominee for music). With his wife Nell Benjamin, he won the Olivier Award (London’s Tony) for co-writing Legally Blonde: The Musical, which ran 2 1/2 years on the West End and has toured the UK. Blonde received seven Tony Award nominations, two US national tours and several international productions, winning Australia’s Helpmann Award for Best Musical. Larry wrote the Off-Broadway smash Bat Boy: The Musical, which won the Lucille Lortel Award, two Richard Rodgers Awards and the New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, and has received 500+ productions worldwide, including the West End, Tokyo, Seoul, Berlin and Edinburgh. Larry has composed music and/or lyrics for The Daily Show, SyFy’s Defiance, the Disney Channel, PBS and Cirque du Soleil. A graduate of Harvard and USC, Larry teaches master classes at Harvard, Yale, NYU, and elsewhere. FROM THE DIRECTOR Who could forget the iconic lines of the movie: Heathers? In 1988, the movie premiered to surprisingly giant audiences nationwide and garnered a cult-following for its harsh attack on the reality of high school life. Along with many others, I grew up with this dark comedy as a kid, but I was shocked to see that the story of Heathers has gained even more relevance in 2018. In March of 2017, I sat down with REPresent, our student advisory board and many other high school students and asked them one question: what shows speak to you as a young adult? What show do you connect with so much as a high-school student that you are just bursting at the seams to perform it? There were a few titles mentioned – Spring Awakening, Bare: A Pop Opera, even Footloose. The title that was requested more than any others was Heathers. It was evident that this show contained themes and content that our students wanted, and perhaps needed, to put a voice to. Many of these titles contained adult themes and language but featured characters of high school age. It was evident that our students wanted to express themselves personally and artistically with challenging material and mature themes that they themselves were currently dealing with. Making a decision to produce any production is not taken lightly, especially one that contains adult or challenging themes for our students and/or community. We started with research and multiple conversations and meetings about the teen suicide, gun violence, and bullying. We evolved from our normal artistic process to a journey that shed light on important subject that all students normally have to deal with on their own. As we processed and grew from these discoveries, it became even more pivotal to communicate the story of Heathers with passion and decorum. Our production disguises these types of themes in comedic satire that deteriorates as the show progresses, leaving a sad and vulnerable reality that is more relevant now than ever. The day of our first production meeting, we were all devastated by the news from Parkland. Discussion began with the production team, as well as the cast, on how to proceed as we were dealing with similar atrocities in our own production. Not long after, I was overwhelmed as members of the cast spoke up with maturity and grace, saying our story is one that needs to be told now more than ever. The cast was not only ready to perform this type of material, but had learned throughout the process that theatre is more