Culver High theatre students inspire with 'Hadestown: Teen Edition'
The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) is putting on it second round of performances of the Greek tale on Broadway this weekend, starting tonight at 7 p.m.
The Theatre department of Culver High’s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) is taking a deep dive into the importance of the arts with their production of Hadestown: Teen Edition. Their second week of performances will be Thursday, March 12 to Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m at the Robert Frost Auditorium.
Hadestown is a celebrated musical written by Anaïs Mitchell that debuted on Broadway in 2019, reaching 14 Tony nominations and winning eight, including Best Musical. The show reimagines two ancient Greek myths — Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone — in an industrial New Orleans-inspired setting.
While the original Greek mythology dating back over 2,500 years tells the story of Hades and Persephone to give an explanation for the cyclical nature of seasons, the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice provides a chance to explore human nature and the power of art. Hadestown recontextualizes their stories to unpack themes like climate change, capitalism, love, and grief.
The AVPA production features 30 actors on stage, 20 musicians in the orchestra pit, and a large technical crew, adding up to a team of over 100 students working on the show. The students have been working on Hadestown since January, bringing in new elements for the production like fog special effects and figuring out how to rotate part of the stage.
With such a large group of students in the Theatre department, there is a second cast scheduled to perform this coming weekend, with the lead actors in the previous cast taking roles in the ensemble. According to Lee Margaret Hanson, the Creative Director of Theatre at AVPA and director of Hadestown: Teen Edition, giving more students a chance to take the lead is an important part of AVPA.
“There’s so much talent here in this community,” Hanson noted. “Even when you’ll be in the spotlight, you’re still supporting the person you share this role with.”
The Culver High students were not only committed to showing their talent in Hadestown, but were also inspired by the message of helping others during hard times. Students in the Theatre department researched and found Culver-Palms Burrito Project, a collective that shares food with unhoused people in Downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, and surrounding areas. Concerned with the SNAP benefit cuts and many losing access to Medicaid and healthcare, the cast and a large part of the crew took part in making and distributing burritos.
Lulu Zwarch, a senior and one of the prop leads — a role that entails creating every object that an actor holds on the stage — hopes that audiences, like the cast and crew of Hadestown, can take home the message of making a difference.
“This [musical] is very relevant now,” Zwarch commented. “We are in a time right now where the arts are being threatened and people in power have too much power at the expense of others.”
Hadestown: Teen Edition comes at a time when the Board of Education is being faced with the possibility of laying off two Arts management positions in CCUSD as part of continued efforts to balance its budget. The current climate surrounding funding and programs for the arts led to fears about AVPA’s future, prompting Deanna Newell, the President of the AVPA Foundation, to release a statement dispelling claims that the AVPA program would be cut.
Christian May-Suzuki
For Hanson, the students’ commitment and inspiration to take action is a great example of why providing youth with adequate arts education is necessary at CCUSD and beyond.
“[The importance of art is] what this musical is all about,” Hanson said. “It’s Orpheus, an artist, a musician, saying ‘If I can just create this beautiful piece of music, maybe the world can find harmony and balance together.’”
General Admission tickets are $20. To learn more about other ticket pricing and buy tickets, click the link here.
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