Before Hamilton

The Edina Thespians perform In the Heights this month.
Olivia Magnusson, Grecia Toriz, Gabriella Leovan, Enzo Mejia, Jillian Keith, Kodjo Kounoudji, Shane Kretz, Adam Hecker

This month, the Edina Thespians will perform the Tony award-winning musical, In the Heights. This musical, by famed Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, takes place in the Washington Heights neighborhood of  New York City. The musical focuses on a storeowner named Usnavi, who along with his childhood friend Nina, has returned to the neighborhood for the first time since leaving for college. This story follows the events over the span of three days with a message focused on what being home truly means.

Part of Miranda’s vision when he created this musical was that everyone would have an opportunity to audition for the production. Tony Matthes, artistic director of the Edina Thespians, shares this vision and wants to stress that the group welcomes any and all newcomers at Edina High School to join the Thespians. To ensure a wide variety of student participation at auditions, Matthes and others visited band and choir classes, the Hip-Hop Dance Club and the Black Student Union, resulting in more than 90 students turning out for auditions.

For performance dates and ticket information, visit the website here.