A Senior Capstone is an opportunity for seniors to explore passions and try new jobs. Seniors Cai Reeps and Evan Gorman’s passion is theater and, for their Capstone, they have decided to direct a musical, specifically the musical “Hadestown: Teen Edition.” Reeps and Gorman will be rehearsing and performing the show through StageCoach Theatre Company, which is well known for working with teens and kids as well as working with student directors. The rights for the teen version of “Hadestown” are still new, and it has not been performed in this area before, thus causing 80 teens from across Northern Virginia to audition for this show.
Reeps, who played Ali in Woodgrove’s production of “Mamma Mia!,” has been involved in theater all her life and involved in StageCoach for 4 years. This is her first time directing a show, and she says that working with Gorman makes the process a lot easier. Reeps shared how this experience has changed her view of some of the more technical aspects of theater that she did not have a lot of experience in before and has changed her view of the auditioning process. “It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be trying to fit everyone into different places,” Reeps explained.
Gorman, who played Jack in WHS’s production of “Into the Woods,” has been in theater all his life and doing theater at StageCoach since seventh grade. He has even worked on a production with StageCoach before called “Into the Valley Below” as an assistant director. Gorman believes he and Reeps work well together, as he feels he is very indecisive while Reeps is very decisive. “They have a lot of very strong opinions. But I need it, because I’m very ‘oh blah blah blah,’ and they’re more like ‘I want it this way,’ and I’m like ‘okay. We’re doing it this way,” Gorman shared.
Reeps and Gorman are not working alone. They have an experienced producer and director to help them with the show. Producer Torie Dunlap has been involved in theater since she was three years old and, since high school, she has been directing and producing musicals and plays. Dunlap works with teens all the time, from directing musicals over the summer to producing shows run by teen directors, making her very experienced in her field. Dunlap had worked with Reeps and Gorman multiple times throughout the years, so their partnership is greatly working out for the three of them. “What I’m most impressed with right now is their vision for the show, and how intentional they’re being about every single thing—from the costumes to the set, how they are discussing the characters,” Dunlapp shared.
This show was originally a ‘no cut production.’ However, with the sheer number of people who auditioned, it just was not possible to keep everyone in the show. To keep as many people in the show as possible, Reeps and Gorman created two separate casts called the A cast and the B cast. One cast will have the first two shows and the other cast will have the last two shows. With an A and B cast, the rehearsals for “Hadestown” can be a bit confusing. Gorman and Reeps have come up with two ways to solve this dilemma. One way is to have smaller rehearsals with only one cast, and record all the new work to send out to the other cast to work at home. The other is to work on a scene with only a few of the cast members in it and have the people in that scene from both casts switch off and rehearse with each other.
Being under the direction of fellow high school students has had a noticeable effect on the cast of “Hadestown” as well. Emma Nicholson, a sophomore at Loudoun County High School and Atropos in “Hadestown,” explained how working with Reeps and Gorman is different from shows she has done before. “I feel more seen by my creative team, because they’re so close to me in age that I can talk to them if a problem comes up, and they understand,” Nicholson shared. Grace Allred, Eurydice in the production and also a sophomore at Loudoun County, also shared why she likes working with Reeps and Gorman. “I feel like I have to be less proper…I’m less worried about having it affect me from a superior position,” Allred explained.
Actress Addison Wivagg, who plays Persephone and is a senior at Briar Woods High School, shared how doing this show differed from shows she has done before—and not just because of the student directors. “I’ve never really been in a show that’s all music like this, so it’s definitely more challenging and different from what I’m used to,” Wivagg commented. The actor of Hades and a senior at Stonebridge High School,
Jerry Wang, shared how he feels Reeps and Gorman are doing from his perspective as a stage manager at his school. He said, “They’re great directors, they’re really compassionate. and they really understand how the process works…I can tell they had a plan going in, which I really do appreciate.”
Even though they technically started early and will end later than the usual senior capstone, it can be sure the effect it will have, one that benefits the community, is going to be the same. Hop on down to Stagecoach Theater Company in Ashburn June 12 through 15, and support your local performing arts center and up-and-coming young thespians.