What does Arden Smith have planned for this year’s drama productions?
The VHS drama department announced this year’s spring musical and fall play with an Instagram video. The post was captioned: “the very long awaited answers… but be sure to watch til the end!” The video was the end of an 11 part series of posts that teased the shows. In the final post, Arden Smith, the drama teacher at VHS, is seen tearing down posters in the lobby of the main stage in an elimination of the potential candidates. The fall play was revealed to be “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night”.
The fall play’s genre is mystery and follows the story of a boy named Christopher who finds the killer of his neighbor’s dog. The production was originally a 2003 novel of the same name by British author Mark Haddon. The novel was later adapted into a production by playwright Simon Stephens. The adaptation first premiered at Britain’s “National Theatre” in Aug. of 2012. Also in the video, Smith tears down all three potential candidates for the spring musical and two groups of students dressed in attire reveal the winner to be “Bonnie and Clyde”.
“[It] starts out as a mystery and really turns into a very heart wrenching, emotional story. This one is very special to me. I just haven’t played a character like this before,” said Jagger Smith ‘26, who plays the protagonist Christopher.
“I think it’s really important to get representation of neurodivergence in the media and I think that this show does a really good job doing that,” said Arden Smith.
“[The role of Christopher’s father, Ed is] a very complex character. He’s probably like the hardest character acting wise I’ve had to play,” said Hudson Ham ‘26.
The spring musical, “Bonnie and Clyde” is a story based on outlaws from the Great Depression with music by Don Black and Frank Wildhorn inspired by the blues and rock from the 1930s. The musical was written by Ivan Menchell and premiered at California’s “La Jolla Playhouse” in Nov. of 2009. “Bonnie and Clyde” is one of my favorite musicals…I just really enjoy the music,” said Arden Smith.
