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The East Haven Arts Commission with the aid of EHHS drama club members and other drama clubs from other schools, will be producing “The Spongebob Musical.” This show consists of entering 10th graders to 25 year olds while the other summer show “Dear Edwina Junior” is for entering 4th graders through entering 10th graders. For “The Spongebob Musical,” the final performances will be on July 20th, 21st, and 22nd at 6 pm at EHHS, and for “Dear Edwina Junior'' final performances will be on August 3rd, 4th, and 5th at EHHS.
The summer shows are productions separate from the EHHS Drama Club and are made possible by the EH Arts Commission. The town organization supports a summer theater program that has a show for younger students and one for older students. These summer shows have been done consistently since 2012 with COVID-19 messing up previous shows.
EHHS English teacher and Drama Club director Karri Collins, who has been doing this since 2012, shares, “The nice thing is that a lot of EH Drama Club students end up doing it.” Anyone from any town can come and be a part of the production in cast, crew, script, costumes, etc. From this year's show, there are students from Brandford, West Haven, New Haven, and even East Haddam.
Ms. Collins' role will be directing “The Spongebob Musical” and mentoring the students on “Dear Edwina Junior.” For costumes, it is a combination of the directors for each show and aid from the production manager.
The production is a “fully staged musical with singing, dancing, acting, set pieces, and costumes,” Ms. Collins describes. The “Dear Edwina Junior'' show is about a girl who gives an advice column from her backyard. The advice that she gives is in the form of a performance and all the kids write different letters asking for advice. Each kid asking for advice will have a different song in the show. ''The Spongebob Musical” plot will be about a volcano erupting that will end the world of Bikini Bottom and SpongeBob along with his friends Patrick and Sandy Cheeks. They will have to save Bikini Bottom from the end of the world.
Ms. Collins shares that the summer shows have grown increasingly with people being a part of the production as well as a part of the audience. She shares, “It has grown because it's been around for so long that people who used to be in the younger or older shows are directing it now.” Students have gone through the whole process of being in the play to now directing it which Ms. Collins shares is nostalgic and nice to see and be a part of.
EHHS Senior Kayden Patel will be playing smaller roles as she will be a part of the ensemble. This isn't Kayden's first show; she has previously participated in the "Little Mermaid" show this year, and the EH Arts Commission show last summer. The first time that she did the summer show she describes it as, “fun but a little stressful because a lot was going on and the school was just coming back from COVID.” Her expectations for this year's summer show are to be surrounded by the people she previously participated in last year's summer show. She is excited about hanging out with her friends while performing the fun musical for this year's production.
EHHS Freshman, Jaidyn Torres, was part of the EHHS production “The Addams Family” and “The Little Mermaid.” For the summer show she will be part of the backstage crew. Her job is to make sure everything is organized, the actresses/actors are ready, props are set and ready to go, move the backgrounds for each scene, set up lights, and set up the music. She states, “theater is a fun experience and students should join to make memorable memories.”
For more information regarding the production of the final show, visit https://www.easthavenarts.com/ and for behind the scenes, visit the EH Drama Club Instagram page @ehhsdramaclub.
