Important Message for MS Cast and Parents regarding rehearsal

Dear MS Cast & Parents:

We are hard at work getting ready to put on a fantastic show! The enthusiasm is great and the songs and verses are coming along very well. However, with three Sundays and a handful of rehearsals until show time, rehearsal attendance is absolutely vital. Although we released the rehearsal information in late Fall and in the production contracts, stating that "Sunday, March 1 & 9, and show week rehearsals are mandatory for all cast and crew". We are now inundated with a plethora of missing weekly rehearsals requests, as well as early out/late in/missing Sunday entirely rehearsal and show week rehearsal requests which causes duress on the children and all involved in the production.

If all of these requests were to be granted, we would never have a full cast rehearsal but we may have a full swamp of grouchy ogres! In fact, with the volume of requests thus far, only 60-70% of children have attended a full rehearsal at any given time. Absent students cause cast consistency problems and make putting on a production extremely challenging. When cast members are absent, other children cannot learn the proper moves or staging. And every time even one child comes in late or leaves early, we have to re-block and re-adjust the entire stage of over 160 actors.


Parents, please understand that a show is a team effort and relies on every child being present for the duration of the time for which their part is called. We only have 3 Sunday rehearsals left to accomplish blocking and the remaining dances, and trying to run the entire show from start to finish before the actual show. There is no time to relearn what is missed or to place those missing actors.

 We recognize how busy all of our talented children are with other events and activities but, as stated in the production contract, each child is only allowed a certain number of absences. So please chose which rehearsals or activities your child will miss with this in mind. In addition, having every child stay for the rehearsal’s entirety is vital to each child’s confidence and participation since students not present for the scenes that are blocked, readjusted, or polished will sit out for those scenes and/or curtain call.

 We thank you greatly for your understanding and cooperation. The children are working so hard and doing a phenomenal job so far. We can’t wait for you to see you in the Swamp and Duloc in a few short weeks!!!

Thank you,

Ms. Kendrick and the Shrek Jr. Team