Director's Notes About the Play
Welcome to the second Ridgewood High School Drama Club production of the school year. We
are excited to bring you an original play based on the school itself. This play is quite
different from the production of Dracula in the fall. It is based on the popular culture
and lives of our post-baby boom generation. We wanted to incorporate 1990’s high
school students’ daily experiences into a play. But because no play exists that fits
this idea exactly, we decided to write something based directly on the students’ and
our lives. We took conversations, events and daily occurrences right out of the hallways
and classrooms and put them into dramatic form. Thus, Ridgewood 60634: I’m Packing
up my Locker and Taking it on the Road was born. In writing a play based on
everyday life in Norridge and Harwood Heights we wanted to show actors in the play and the
students, parents and community members that attend the play that drama id not a stuffy,
strange and far away experience. It is not something that is only interesting and relevant
to the thirty-something and older or artsy crowds. It is the art form that is most similar
to all of our lives because it is performed live. This play is not about English people
dealing with a supernatural experience like the play Dracula.
We do not have to explain the history behind this play. Ridgewood 60634 is about
those people we live with, see, and communicate with every day. It takes the seemingly
regular and uncelebrated lives of adolescents and creates a funny, exciting and energetic
representation of Ridgewood High School.
Another reason for doing a play of this type was to give the drama students a taste of
many forms of musical and straight comedy. Many of you will recognize that the musical
numbers come from the variety of modern and contemporary musicals. This was done to give
students the experience of acting in different types of musical comedy scenes. Also it
acquaints them with different plays and musical scores. It also shows how plays written
many years ago are still relevant today. Second, you will probably recognize many of the
scenes in the play resemble popular contemporary television shows, movies and plays. We
took many of the elements that the post baby boom generation identifies with, and created
something understandable and funny to us.
Just as Hair and West Side Story represented the popular youth culture of
the baby-boom generation, this play represents the culture of the ‘slacker’
generation following the baby-boom. We often feel that we are trying to peek out from
underneath the weight of the baby-boom generation. Not much in theatre represents what we
experience because we don’t buy as many tickets. Through this production we are
trying to express our generation and our experiences. Parents and grandparents may not
recognize all of the slang and understand all of the humor, but we think you will enjoy
experiencing a slice of our lives. Thank you for supporting the Ridgewood Drama Club and
enjoy the show.
Kristin Lohrenz,
Drama Director
David Krugh,
Technical Director
Ridgewood Reporter Story
- RHS actors overcome adverse conditions
- Ridgewood Reporter March 1997 (Volume 12, Issue 5)
