As a high School Theater Director, there is always a challenge in every production. The challenge with The Addams Family Musical came in the casting--finding the right combination of talents and personalities to fill the roles and tell the tale. Not always an easy trick when you have a lot of very talented students with a lot of very different thoughts and concerns. Yet I wanted to do the Addams Family because of that very thing, the celebration of differences between people and families. 

     

As a teacher I am always aware of the differences in my students and in their families. After all, families come in all forms including the family you are born into, the family you create, your work family, extended family, immediate family, feels like family, dysfunctional family and, of course, big happy family. Even though there are many kinds of family, the one thing they all have in common is that they are all odd and strange. Say what you will, there is no such thing as a “normal” family. Your family has quirks and traditions no one understands. And then there are the family weirdos, that one cousin or aunt who is just “A little off”... that one brother or sister who can’t just go with the flow and is always the ripple in the family get-together. But they will be the first to defend you and will be there when you need them! 

    

Your family, your real family, consists of those people in your life who accept and love you for what you are, no matter what you are, because they see the beauty of what you are and can become. That is the amazing world of theatre and the families Charles Addams created when he first drew the single panel cartoon, “Addams Family,” for The New York Times back in 1938. It shows us that it is OK to be a little off track. That is what family is and family does. I am very proud that our production of The Addams Family Musical reflected the same values as the cartoon with a unique family of actors, techies, musicians, and staff. We were all in this together and supported one another as friends coming together to celebrate, family, change, love, and the community of all who do theatre! It is a great family, and I am very glad they let me be a part of it.