Livingston, NJ–On Wednesday, January 7, students from the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School presented a production of the musical Free to Be You and Me. Produced and directed by Pleasant Valley Productions, a West Orange-based community theater company, the production involved students in grades 3 through 12 in the cast and on the stage crew.

The students rehearsed since the fall, as part of two after-school musical theater workshops, one for grades 3 through 6 and another for grades 7 through 12, run by the theater company personnel, Ilene Greenbaum and Mariel Letourneau. The workshop also involved instruction in audition preparation and techniques, improvisation, character development and general theater education. The two student groups came together for final rehearsals and ultimately performed together on stage. Stage management and crew members included students in grades 5 through 12, and a 6th grader played guitar as part of the musical accompaniment.

The lower and middle school workshop was sponsored by the JKHA Parent Teacher Council, officers of which had approached Pleasant Valley Productions to produce and direct the program.

By Ilene Greenbaum, JKHA/RKYHS Drama director