As the lights in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) lowered at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS), the buzz of excitement and anticipation radiated from the audience. The cast then ran in from behind the audience, and the MVRHS theater department’s performance of the Tony awardwinning musical “Hadestown” began.
The production this year required an enormous amount of time and effort to put together. Director and theater teacher Brooke Ditchfield said, “We’ve been working on it for six months, so what audiences are going to see is the culmination of six months of work.”
Within this time frame, students participated in after-school rehearsals and enrolled in a class that was exclusively devoted to either the musical or stage production.
“Hadestown” is a musical mashup of two Greek myths — Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone — against a backdrop of an industrial-era landscape that was evident in the set design and costumes. Throughout the production, effects like fog, moving walls, and lights dropping down from the stage immersed the audience.
Junior Ethan Knight, an audience member, was familiar with both Greek myths that “Hadestown” is based on, but had not heard of the play itself. “It was really interesting to see [the story] be told in a different way and the message come across in a new form,” he said.
Junior Hydee Turner and senior Georgia DeRoche shared the role of Eurydice in the play, with Hydee performing the first and third nights and Georgia the second and last.
Hydee said, “I think it’s fun, because [we played] the same character, but there were so many sides or ways to interpret her story.”
For Hydee, playing Eurydice was especially impactful in its relevance to modern-day troubles. “There are a lot of parts of the show where we look out to the audience, because it’s moments that kind of reflect the times now, and also because [Eurydice] goes through a lot of struggle, which I think a lot of people are going through right now,” she said.
Many community members contributed to the production as well. “We have incredible mentors who come in from the community,” said Ms. Ditchfield. “They are carpenters and costume designers, lighting technicians and choreographers. I mean, for some of us it’s been a decade or more, and this is our 12th show together.”
The show also had a live onstage band composed of community members and two students.
Hydee said that her favorite moment of the show was when she heard the audience gasp. “It made me feel like I did my job,” she said, “because from the beginning, [Hermes] says it’s a sad story. She says it’s not going to end well, but throughout the show, you get so invested that you’re like, wow, and it’s just such an abrupt ending. And then I see the audience crying.”
“The message of this play means a lot to me and the students,” said Ms. Ditchfield. “It’s about the world that we live in, but also about imagining what the world could be. I think that it’s the young people who are going to show the way, as they say in the show. I hope that our community can leave this show feeling that hope — and that they can see the beauty and they can see the light even in the darkest of times.”
The moral of the play was not lost on the audience. Jessica Cushman, a parent who attended the show with her teenage daughter, said, “Even though we all know the myth, we gasp. We hope against hope that this time love, faith, and trust will win against death.”