High school musical theater In Our Hands Now!
an original high school musical by
E. Sandy Powell  &  Mick Terry

ADAPTABILITY

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Enter here ...
if you think you can't do it,
if you think musicals are beyond your school,
if your theater has been bound by traditional fare,
or if you have any hesitation whatsoever
about  In Our Hands Now!  being right for your program.


No matter what!:

The playwright and composer hope you will do as Gold Beach High School in Oregon,
and produce  In Our Hands Now!  no matter what challenges your school or theater faces.

We envision this show in all manner of presentations: from large stages on the West Coast to the dynamic high school drama program in Harlem, Georgia, from Broadway and the movies to dinner theaters in Chicago. (We even have folks in Germany already looking into a translation.)

But, of equal importance, we imagine
 In Our Hands Now!  put on by some quirky group of high schoolers in an outdoor setting in the Arizona foothills, in a grange hall in Kansas, or a community center in West Virginia. Experienced singers will rock a big city auditorium with this musical's songs, but that shouldn't keep a small cast with inexperienced singers from their chance to perform as Zach, Dezha, Adeeno, Maggie and the rest.
 In Our Hands Now!  works, whether you have a drama program or not!

Here are some ideas for adapting to fit your kids, stage, community.


The Cast:

Include those often overlooked
Listen for who might be available in your school or community.
Use  In Our Hands Now!  to draw in students often left out of traditional productions. The Gold Beach High Student Body has one student who is blind; Allison Passino also happens to sing like an angel (as well as write like a novelist). Allison played Tabitha, one of the leads, in the Gold Beach High production. Her interpretation and contribution added immeasurably to the show. (See Donna Penny's comments under Reviews.)

Tabitha and Jonathan's roles particularly suit students who are blind, but other characters could be adapted to match students with different specialized orientations as well. Adeeno's role, for instance, fits a guy with any of a number of hyperactive behaviors. As long as the student can learn Adeeno's copious lines, fidgeting on stage would only add to the realism.

Perhaps you have a student who gets around in a wheelchair; he might be a perfect Mr. Drew. Since the show is set in an up-to-date high school facility, constructing a set to accommodate differing abilities ought to be straightforward. (You might consider grant assistance to cover the inclusion costs.)

We encourage you to look at students on the fringes, ones who show particular interest in the arts (detailing on bodies or motorbikes, for instance), and consider these students for your cast or crew. Perhaps you'll elicit the services of reformed graffiti artists for a brick wall in Act II Scene 2.

Gold Beach High had a formidable wrestler who had never sung or acted before. Daemion Lee came to the auditions wanting to "try out" theater. Daemion became perhaps the cast's most dedicated player, showing up on time, staying late to work harder on the group dances, encouraging others when they couldn't get a sequence of steps. "If I can, you can!" Daemion proved all his skeptics wrong. While you may cast a more theatrically skilled Zach, you will be hard-pressed to find one who will surpass Daemion for playing Zach from the heart.

Let  In Our Hands Now!  be an opportunity for those often left out, to show what they can do to in a major musical production.


Adapting the size of the cast
If working with a small number of players, you can easily assign Student lines to the principal players. You can also cast some students in more than one role. Girls can play guys. Or try, as Gold Beach did for a time, to partner with a neighboring school or community.

Even cutting or doubling up may not whittle the cast to your size. Don't despair! In Gold Beach several guy parts were cast more than once: poor grades, speeding ticket to get to rehearsal (one parent's last straw), etc. The community has only a total of 250 students in the entire 4-year high school!

And the most active students are out there, involved in other programs as well. Some of the cast even drove home from their competition in the State Science Fair, seven hours away, to make it in time for Opening Night curtain. Track members had the option of running during their lunch hour or study hall when they had to miss after-school track practice to make it to important rehearsals. Kids on the South Coast get used to rising to a challenge, either with extra effort, or "making do" (Adeeno's line).
The cast of  In Our Hands Now!  at Gold Beach High had to do both.

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[ Hands logo - Daemion Lee ]
[ Graphics enhancement - Jared Johnson ]

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Copyright © 2003   E. Sandy Powell   &   Mick Terry