DIRECTOR'S NOTE- Kyle Lawrence

“Aren’t we the song that we sing? Don’t we lift our voices to tell the world who we are? And what we believe? So I ask you... what song are you singing?”

We, as humans, share the need to express ourselves. Every day we make choices in our appearance, in our words, and in our actions of how we perceive ourselves and how we wish to be perceived by others. This offers us a release in sharing our feelings, our desires, and our struggles. 

Dancing has always had a history with human culture and expression. We dance to pray. We dance to socialize. We dance to tell stories. We dance because there are feelings and thoughts within us that are so strong that we have no other choice but to release them into movement beyond our routine. 

When our ability to safely and freely express our inner selves is limited, whether by our own insecurities or physical limitations, or by an outside force, it can be immensely isolating. There is a feeling of loss as you can be stripped of knowing who you are and why you’re here. 

In the community of Bomont, where Footloose takes place, dancing is a crime.  To us here today performing and watching a musical, this may sound absurd- But this premise has real life inspiration. Dean Pitchford based his original screenplay on the town of Elmore City, Oklahoma where a ban on all dancing was in place since its founding in 1898, until 1980 when the junior class of Elmore’s high school petitioned to finally have a prom.

The original 1984 film and its musical adaptation explores a community where an expression so intrinsic to our human nature is made criminal. What could steer the town's leaders to justify and create such laws? How does this affect the people of the town and their relationships with one another? And what happens when an outsider comes and decides to disrupt this community’s norm? 

Rehearsing this show in 2020, as we navigate our own new social limitations both as a community and within the rehearsal room, I feel that this cast has collectively undergone an unexpected insight into the social restrictions the characters within this play experience. In the name of public health, we’ve been doing things differently than we used to. 

When I feel frustrated with it all, I remind myself of the beginning months of the pandemic and how much I yearned to be doing a play again and expressing myself through the performing arts. I am amazed by this cast's dedication and willingness to create theatre, even as it currently means sweating and singing in face masks. It is not the ideal, but for now it will do.  Someday we won’t be wearing them everywhere. Someday we will have this theatre filled to capacity again. But today, I thank you for helping to keep the arts alive, and for your patience in keeping it safe. Thank you for sharing in our expression. 

“There is a time for everything... a time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn. And a time to dance.”