Avondale Theatre Company presents "The Addams Family"

The Avondale Theatre Company (ATC), Avondale High School’s award-winning drama troupe, presents the musical The Addams Family for a two-weekend, four-show run April 24, 25 and May 1, 2 at 7:35 pm.

“The musical has just been released for licensing,” said Edmond Guay, Avondale HS theatre teacher and director in his 28th year with the school and company, “so everything about it is brand new, fun to discover and wildly entertaining. The script is hysterical, the lyrics are a riot, the music is contagious and finding ways to bring such a classic to life on stage is proving to be both challenging and a ton of fun.”

Guay adds that like all Avondale shows, he plans on some unique ATC-centric elements. “The ensemble is populated by the family’s dead relatives who rise once a year to celebrate all things Addams. Our personal touch to that is to have the dead relatives represent iconic characters from the past 28 years of ATC productions. Alumni and long-standing patrons will see lots of familiar costumes which will harken back to past years and shows.”

Assisting Guay with this year’s musical are Avondale vocal music teacher, Kevin Cornwell and band director, Joshua Neuenschwander. Community volunteers Matt Bramble, Betina Dubois, Jalen Archer, Julie Semones and Samantha Monahan serve as mentors and assist in overseeing the scene shop, costume crew, front-of-house team, choreography and other areas of the show. Avondale junior Abby Tang serves as the production’s student director.

The cast is populated by both a who’s who of ATC veterans and a smattering of first-timers. Senior Sal Chimenti completes a season-long, three-show blitz of lead characters and gets to bring Gomez to life while senior Elizabeth Kurkowski makes her ATC debut as Morticia. Senior Lily Czartorski showcases her wide vocal range as Wednesday. Senior Grant Cleaveland plays Uncle Fester and senior Mimi Asante portrays the caustic and forgetful Grandmama. The character Lurch is played by junior Paul Murphy and freshman Daniel Barr plays Pugsley.

The full company, including musicians from the Avondale instrumental music department and back stage crew members numbers 112 students. “We have a huge and widely skilled group of students in our theatre department,” said Guay. “So many students discover their talent and grow their talent in our program – it’s as exciting to watch as our productions themselves.”

The Addams Family will be on stage at Avondale High School in the Avondale Performing Arts Center April 24, 25 and May 1, 2 at 7:35 pm. Avondale High School is located at 2800 Waukegan in Auburn Hills, 48326.

Tickets are on sale now and all seating is reserved. Adult admission is $10 and student (grades K-12) admission is $5. Tickets can be purchased at the ATC Box Office which is open daily during school lunch hours (11 am – 12:30 pm) or Tuesday through Thursday from 3 – 5 pm. ATC also offers online ticketing through its website www.avondaledrama.com. Online and credit card ticket orders carry small processing fees.

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