This fall, our school’s theater program is putting on the production of Hadestown: Teen Edition. Hadestown is a musical based on a book by Anaïs Mitchell, which tells a story of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial version of the Greek underworld to escape poverty and the cold. Her poor singer-songwriter lover Orpheus comes to rescue her. Mitchell portrays it as a sad love story that grasps the concepts of trust, love, poverty and making hard choices, but this production is not meant to be seen in just black and white.
Jamie Miller, the director of Hadestown as well as the acting, stagecraft and costuming teacher at Ida B. Wells says, “[An important part of the production is] the audience taking away what they need to from it. It is one of those things about art that you can’t control how it’s going to be perceived, how it’s going to land and so I have kind of quit trying.”
Miller and the amazing cast have taken a different approach to this fall’s production by making a seating venue built into the stage for an up close and personal experience of the play. Traditionally, Hadestown has been a full-stage production with audience members in the regular setting style.
This year, Miller wants the audience to be able to feel the energy and understand the story by giving a more intimate show. When walking into the auditorium, guests are led onto platforms surrounding the center stage. Everything from this year’s fall production has been hand-built by the crew members, including platforms for the live band to play and for cast members to sit and act on during the show.
Cast members this year include Ingrid Gish, who plays Eurydice. Ingrid is only a freshman and is her first time being a lead in a production; it’s not very common for freshmen to be leads. Ingrid has a beautiful voice and is a talented actor who shows her emotion on stage. She says that her favorite part of Hadestown has been “getting ready in the dressing room; we always just talk about things that are going on and it definitely gives you a sense of community.” We hope to see Ingrid in later school productions and can’t wait for her next performance.
Oliver Villarreal is another lead, who plays the poor but talented Orpheus. Oliver is a senior and tells us how his favorite memory has been “running through the entire show for the first time, and [realizing] how big of a thing we had on our hands.” Oliver is an amazing actor, singer and talented guitarist who really helped emphasize the love between Orpheus and Eurydice.
All of the leads, cast, and crew put so much time and effort into this year’s fall production, not to mention the live band that took extra time to make this play possible by learning new songs and giving theater a chance. Various songs include “Livin’ It Up On Top”, “Way Down To Hadestown” and “Wait For Me”.
All concepts of this performance pull together with a live band, lighting, and props showing the story as it develops and highlighting different aspects and angles of the show. Getting into the venue is easy, with tickets available for purchase online and a snack table near the entrance to the auditorium, making for a tasty intermission snack. If you enjoy love and a good story, I recommend watching Hadestown: Teen Edition for a thrilling and enjoyable night.
