Ramblewood Middle School performs The Addams Family, Young@Part
By: Jen Russon
The creepy, kooky characters so many of us grew up watching on TV are back in the Ramblewood Middle School’s production of The Addams Family, Young@Part.
In this version of the dramatic comedy, Pugsley and Wednesday are all grown up, frustrated by a bevy of weird, unchanged relatives, like Lurch and Grandma.
Written by Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice, with lyrics by Andrew Lippa, The Addams Family Young@Part was adapted into a 65-70 minute edition of the Broadway musical and written specifically for elementary, middle schools and youth theaters.
Directing the play is dramatic arts teacher Meagan Nagy who said that from set design to execution, the Addams Family show represents the first time her students have handled everything themselves.
“From day one, the design team’s biggest dream was to make this show as immersive as possible,” Nagy said.
In the play, Gomez and Morticia Addams have continued to march to the beat of their own morbid drum for hundreds of years, and wish to continue doing so. Their teenage kids have other ideas. Wednesday has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a sweet, smart boy from a normal, respectable Ohio family.
In one fateful, hilarious night set to music, and captured in catchy songs, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested, and the Addams family must face up to the one unthinkable thing they’ve managed to avoid for so long: change.
The Ramblewood production stars Jocelyn Gomez as Wednesday Addams. An eighth grader, Gomez is a veteran student actor who portrayed Maria in last year’s production of West Side Story.
Sherri Trimble plays Uncle Fester and is an actress local theater goers will recognize from previous roles in West Side Story and Next Stop Broadway’s production of Aladdin.
The Addams Family, Young@Part will be performed at the J.P. Taravella High School Auditorium on Friday. May 10 at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, May 11 at 3 p.m., with another performance at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, and can be purchased online or at the door.
The auditorium is located at 10600 Riverside Drive in Coral Springs.
Jen Russon is a freelance writer and English Language Arts teacher. She has published two novels to Amazon Kindle and lives in Coral Springs with her family.
