An Open Letter to Eckerd College’s Cast and Crew of Heathers the Musical
Our first read through.
To my Cast and Crew,
“What if we do a musical? What if we do Heathers?" - Sept. 2019
“What if the set is 9 chairs and maybe a small platform? Is that too much to ask for? Should we go smaller?” - Sept. 2019
“What if we have to do this all on our own? What will we do? We have no experience putting on a show like this!” - Oct. 2019
“What if no one takes us seriously?” - Oct. 2019
"What if no one comes to auditions?" - Nov. 2019
"What if we can’t fit everything in the schedule?" - Dec. 2019
"What if we don't have a music director?" - Jan. 2020
“What if we can’t figure out how the music tracks work?” - Feb. 2020
"What if we get evacuated? What if we get canceled?" - Mar. 2020
This show was founded on hundreds of "what if?" questions, many of which didn’t seem to have positive answers too. Throughout each of these questions, the momentum of this show could have easily been derailed. Somehow, we’ve gotten to this point. Somehow, the right people landed in the right roles, both on and off stage, and together we’ve built this unstoppable energy of positivity and possibility. This momentum will not stop here.
Today we were supposed to open but because of Covid-19 we are all back home. While I know you, like myself, are heartbroken that today was not what we thought it would be, I’d like to remind you of how far you have come. From our first week of music rehearsals where we were all still figuring things out to our designer tech run through, you have learned and improved so much in such a short amount of time. I am so proud of ALL of you.
You made this project a dream come true for me. I am so proud of the work you have all put into this show and I am even prouder of how you lift each other up. Every rehearsal was filled with laughs. I will remember this time in my life forever and I cannot thank you enough for making my Jr. year at Eckerd the best year ever. I miss you all more and more every day. We have truly become a family and I cannot wait till we are back together again.
Jarais Fontaine (JD) and Hannah Bricker (Veronica) in rehearsals.
Maiah Brush teaching the cast the choreography to Big Fun.
We are so lucky to have a theatre faculty that believes in the show as strongly as we do. I am so thankful they are committed to seeing this project through next semester. I can only imagine the kind of energy that will be in that theatre the night we finally open.
Until then, let’s stay healthy, make some Tiktoks, and get through these online classes.
See you soon,
Hannah