A strange and delightful family comes to life in this year’s ISB high school musical production: The Addams Family. PantherNation sat down with ISB’s talented drama teacher, Mr. Assimakopoulos along with the amazing cast who have worked tirelessly to make this musical a success.

Mr. A explained that he chose “The Addams Family” for this year’s musical because “it was an interesting story a student actually introduced to me and we immediately loved it. So, I asked the students to vote and it got the highest vote, so we decided to do it and the piece itself is a lot of fun.”

We also got to ask the fantastic cast about their favorite scenes. Sue Yoon (11), who plays Wednesday, said her favourite scene is “Act 2, Scene 4: The Moon and Me. I cannot tell you why without spoiling the surprise, but trust me when I say that every second is soul-wrenching, heartfelt, comedic gold. Plus, we get to hear Charlie sing for the whole scene.” Another favourite scene from Ally Glucksman (10) is “the scene in Act 1 where we perform “One Normal Night.” I think the charm of it comes from how everyone [that is] been working on the musical comes together for the first time after the opening song, and it really displays the relationships with the characters. Not only that, but Wednesday (played by Sue Yoon) disses her whole family by calling them weird and telling them that being average for one night should not be that hard.”

Every play has a main theme or message presented to the audience. According to Mr. A, this play revolves around acceptance, as “it covers how we can judge people by their appearance and sometimes we feel like we do not feel in. It address the topic of acceptance in a very light and fun way.” When asked if they could be a character from the play in real life, most of the cast answered that they would love to be their own characters. “I think I would become Grandma in real life. And yes, it is because I play Grandma, but it is also because Grandma is so unassuming, but she is very fun and unexpected. She is also quite independent and loyal to her family,” explained Jacelia Breedlove (10). Reika Herman, a freshman who is performing in a high school play for the first time, said “I would definitely want to become my character, Pugsley. Pugsley is mischievous, clever, witty, and also owns a huge pet lizard which I think is pretty cool.”

To end our interview with Mr. A, we asked him what the audience should expect from this fantastic musical. “Expect that you will be singing the songs hours after or days after or weeks after. There is a lot of singing, acting and dancing. The light designs and the sound effects are amazing and it is going to be a beautiful show.”

The production day for Addams Family is 22, 24, and 25 of April this year. If you are someone who enjoys entertainment and wants to have a great time, then come see this phenomenal production!

Suu Hanhtun (10)