Hadestown: Teen Edition Coming to Hayfield Secondary School

Over the course of the last few weeks, the Hayfield Dramahawks have been busy preparing for the show Hadestown: Teen Edition. Inspired by the Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the musical now takes the stage in Hayfield’s theater. The story is a bone-chilling, beautiful symphony of emotion. It takes place at a train station, and follows the characters through long, walked paths, and an industrialized underground. The show begins with the opening song, “Road to Hell”, which introduces the cast. The cast includes narrator Hermes (Ava Taylor), female lead Eurydice (Mary Copeland), male lead Orpheus (Achilles Ailus), supporting leads Persephone (Tsenat Zenebe), Hades (Henry, Prior), and the three Fates (Arsiema Solomon, Sarah Rubalcava, and Raegan Parker), and the ensemble members who play workers in the underground.

Orpheus meets and falls in love with Eurydice, a discouraged young girl who is apprehensive to reciprocate his feelings. However, Eurydice soon comes to appreciate his optimistic vision for the future. Orpheus exemplifies these ambitions in the form of an unfinished song that will, when finished, fix the world and renew an imbalance that Orpheus saw more clearly after Persephone left early for Hadestown. Orpheus, so set on finishing his song, mistakenly leaves Eurydice to be swept away in a storm of hardship and desperation, which leads her to take an offer of shelter (and escape from poverty) from Hades. However, this offer comes with a cost, her humanity. Eurydice is sent to work in a factory of constant labor and hopelessness, among other workers. Orpheus wants to rescue Eurydice, and the other workers in Hades’ reign, and in order to do so, he must lead her back to their home, without ever looking back to make sure she is still with him.

Hadestown: Teed Edition wouldn’t succeed without lights, hair and makeup, sound, costumes, props, set, and a run crew, and once again, the tech crews have come up spectacular designs and plans. The lighting team (Wren Randolph, Marley Peterson, and crew) has created dramatic spotting and colorful lighting arrays. Ava Taylor, Annie McCauley, and crew are hard at work creating hair and makeup designs that complement the mood of the show. The sound team (Sebastian DeSimone-Shabrack, Jack Pettit, and crew) is making sure all the cues are prepped and the sound quality is clear. Our intricate and cohesive costumes are being created by our great costumes team Iris Nijbroek, Zara Good, and crew are designing intricate and cohesive costumes, and the props team (Allison Rigsbee, Kara Thomas, and crew) has been hard at work creating our props for our actors. The stunning set was created by Dr. Mitchell and built by our amazing set crew (Iris Nijbroek, Allison Rigsbee, and crew) with a tall walls of brick and a moving train set piece.

Hadestown: Teen Edition will be performed on October 17th and 18th at 7:00pm, and on October 19th at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. Tickets will be available on the Dramahawks’ website (hayfielddrama.com) beginning Friday, October 11th. Come see the show and follow the tale of two star-crossed lovers!

Hadestown: Teen Edition is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Corp., www.concordtheatricals.com.

By: Nola Levengood and Hannah Ritchie, Hayfield Secondary School Class of 2026