Love in the underworld: Cardboard Playhouse presents teen edition of award-winning musical 'Hadestown'
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鈥�Hadestown: Teen Edition鈥� reimagines the story of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice for a younger cast.
Based on the thought-provoking musical 鈥淗adestown,鈥� which explores love, loss and the human condition, the teen version features a talented cast of young performers from the Cardboard Playhouse Theatre Company from Friday, Jan. 24, through Feb. 9.
Love in the underworld: Cardboard Playhouse presents teen edition of award-winning musical 'Hadestown'
鈥淐oncord Theatricals, who has the licensing rights for 鈥楬adestown,鈥� worked with the creators to make a teen edition,鈥� said Kristin K. Berg, co-artistic director at Cardboard Playhouse. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e made some adjustments for content. It鈥檚 really just content, so that way high schools and other youth groups can put the show on, but otherwise it鈥檚 a full-length show. It has an intermission.鈥�
鈥淗adestown鈥� is a musical that features music and lyrics by Ana茂s Mitchell.
鈥淔ollowing two intertwining love stories 鈥� that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of immortal King Hades and Lady Persephone 鈥� 鈥楬adestown鈥� invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back,鈥� according to the Concord Theatricals website. 鈥淚nspired by traditions of classic American folk music and vintage New Orleans jazz, Mitchell鈥檚 beguiling sung-through musical pits industry against nature, doubt against faith and fear against love.鈥�
Berg refers to the production as 鈥渁 great piece of art.鈥�
鈥淭hey get the chance to do something that鈥檚 still touring and still on Broadway that our teams really resonate with,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey gave us the opportunity and we did not want to pass that up. So, that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e producing it.鈥�
The Cardboard Playhouse cast began rehearsing the production in November 2024.
鈥淲e will have rehearsed for about eight weeks by the time the show goes up,鈥� Berg said. 鈥淲e took a couple of weeks off for Christmas, for the winter break.鈥�
There are 22 cast members that are part of the production.
鈥淲e have some kids that are in this production, who are about to age out of our program, because the high end of the cast is 19 years old,鈥� Berg said. 鈥淲e usually stop working with kids once they hit 18, because a lot of stuff that we license has an age limit on shows that we do. (There are) kids in the cast that we鈥檝e been working with since they were like six or seven, and now they鈥檙e about to graduate out of our program.鈥�
Cardboard Playhouse holds open auditions for each of its productions. Performers are considered company members after they have been in two Cardboard Playhouse shows.
鈥淯sually for us, because we鈥檙e surviving on ticket sales, we don鈥檛 charge the kids to be in our shows,鈥� Berg said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 totally free to be in them, but because we鈥檙e surviving on ticket sales, we also give preference to people who are company members in larger roles because they鈥檙e people that we depend upon. They鈥檝e proven themselves time and time again to be trustworthy, and they act professionally when they鈥檙e in the rehearsal process with us. We do have kids in this production that have never done a show with Cardboard Playhouse before, but I would say a large majority of this specific cast are company members.鈥�
