This article was written by Inkwel Young, a student in Journalism class

Montpelier high school and U-32 high school theater departments are combining to perform Hadestown this winter at the U-32 theater. Hadestown is a broadway musical which began in Vermont. This proximity to Hadestown’s origins opens up a lot of opportunities for the production, including collaborations with the original co creators.  

The combination of the two schools’ theater departments has been long in the making. There are many reasons for MHS and U-32 to combine for a show. Now that it is finally happening, the group has created a new name for itself: Masque-32.

The two schools received the rights to perform Hadestown within months of each other, which made for a perfect opportunity for the two theater departments to combine. Erin Galligan-Baldwin, who is the theater director at U-32 said, “Usually the publishing companies will not grant rights to the same play within the same location at the same time. Hadestown, apparently, is being performed all over the place (…) They’re just handing it out like candy.” 

It has been a long time goal of the two schools to do a show together. This was the perfect opportunity for them to combine, especially since they are so close in proximity. Erin said, “What we wanted to do was bring U-32 and Montpelier high school together. It’s been a dream for years to do that, to do a show.”

Rival schools meet on common ground

Many actors feared there would be less opportunities for them with the larger group. The two schools are often competing against each other in sports and theater contests. 

Elena Guadagno, a freshman at MHS, has been involved in theater since she was in seventh grade. She shared some of these concerns. “I suppose I was kind of wondering about opportunities, because it’s a smaller cast with a lot of people who want to be involved,” she said. 

Yet, rivalry has not been happening. It seems to be quite the opposite. “My favorite part is seeing this combination of students from two different schools that you would think of as rivals, but we’re not functioning that way,” said Erin. 

There was a large amount of concern that the two schools would be competitive when they combined, but seeing the two schools working together has been a large sense of pride for the adults working on the production. 

This became even more clear as auditions began. “When I looked around at auditions, there were people with big smiles on their faces, and they were cheering for each other, and they were clapping. There were kids from different schools getting up and auditioning together,”said Erin. 

Tech saw a similar sense of community support from the students. “my favorite part is when all of us together are working in harmony on our project, and people are learning. […] Stuff is getting done,” Said David Sanguinetti, the U-32 tech director, “to me, that’s just the joy,”

The best of both worlds 

There are many benefits that both schools get from merging to create Masque-32. One of these benefits is the wider pool of talent that the larger number of students provides. The creation of Masque-32 has made for a bigger pool of acting talent and tech experience. 

Annabelle Morland, who is a student at U-32 high school, thinks that the show will be an improvement. “I think it will be [good] casting. Since there’s so many people doing it, the people that get the roles are going to deserve those roles,” she said. 

Additionally, new opportunities will be available to the tech crew. The larger number of students participating in tech crew boosts productivity. “So there’s some wonderful resources for lighting that Montpelier high school is going to be able to loan us

as part of the show,” said David. With MHS having LED lights to lend the U-32 stage, there are more interesting ways that Hadestown will be able to use lighting. 

The Hadestown actors are doing their rehearsals at Montpelier high school. Not only does this give U-32 actors a chance to rehearse in a new place, but it also gives unique scheduling freedom to the tech crew at U-32. 

“The tech crew and the costume crew get to be here without actors in their way. […] Because we have no other conflicts on the stage, the sets are going to go up. They don’t have to work around the actors. It’s a great setup,” said Erin. 

Hadestown history

Hadestown is a very important show in Vermont. In fact, it was written and workshopped in Montpelier itself!

Erin is friends with the director and co creator of Hadestown, Ben Matchstick. The two have been speaking behind the scenes to workshop this production, as he also has contact with the creator Anais Mitchell. “It’s been really wonderful to talk with him, and when I have an idea, he’ll text Anais Mitchell and get the okay from her for different ideas,” said Erin.

The history that Hadestown has with Vermont is incredibly important to this production. The original Hadestown was created in Vermont, and workshopped in MHS’s theater. 

Erin plans to have some of the original Hadestown creators attend the Masque-32 production. “Hadestown has such a special connection to not just Vermont, but this part of Vermont, […] and it’s just very cool that here we are able to do a production and have a lot of the original people,” she said. 

To honor this history, there are plans to create a display outside of the U-32 auditorium. It is hoped that it will include design sketches from the Hadestown creators and costumes from the original show. “So we want to have this richness. We want to honor the fact that it started here and it’s highly influenced by the Vermont arts and performance scene, and it’s highly influenced by Vermont culture and clearly created by Vermont artists, and that that is reflected in the show itself,” said Erin. 

High expectations

There are a lot of strong feelings surrounding the Masque-32 production of Hadestown, as well as some anticipation. “In every category involved in this show you’ve got […] the best of both schools working together,” said Amy Papineau, the costume director at U-32, “I’m pretty confident in saying the end result will be just even better than it could be if the individual schools […] put this on themselves.” 

The leading adults of the show are loving the cooperation they get with the other school, which is bringing even more excitement for them. “That’s one of the reasons I do this work, is because all of you [students] bring so much to the table that it’s just magic,” said David. 

The confidence going into the production is clear. Expectations are high, and Erin has strong hopes for how the production will go. She considered the past plays from the two schools. “MHS has wonderful plays. Stage-32 has wonderful plays. We have amazing students. I’m always so proud of the work they do, and when we come together and combine, I think it is going to be a stunning production,” she said. 

“So what my hope has been all my years of theater here, is we create an environment so that when the audience walks in and the actors walk on stage, everything works together […] to bring the story to life,” David said, “and that’s the magic.”