What I Did Last Summer

What I Did Last Summer 2022

Written by A.R. Gurney

Directed by Mrs. Christina Myatt

Assistant Director/Stage Manager - Isabella Hernandez

February 26th and 27th, 2022

Directors Note

"...throughout this play, we should be aware of things in the process of being fabricated or made; the characters by actors; the setting by the manipulation of simple scenic elements; the play itself by its obviously traditional and presentational form." (Author's note in the front of the What I Did Last Summer script)

I have loved this show since I was in high school. I think it spoke to me back then because of my own struggles with people who wanted to see me on a "stable" or "safe" career path rather than a life in the arts. I felt much like Charlie as I butted heads with those who could not understand those passions/drive in my life.

Today, I think I love it because I identify more with Anna. As an arts educator, it is my job to open the minds of young artists through the scripts we choose to do, the coaching of those parts they attain, and offer them opportunities where they may find their "potential" and learn skills that they will take them with and use wherever their path leads them.

This beautiful coming of age story (which is semi-autobiographical) by A.R. Gurney reminds us that young adults are works in progress. They are " in the process of fabricating" who they will be as adults. Careers, ideologies, romantic inclinations, and more are being questioned as they find their own path and carve their own mark on this world. But Gurney's life story actually holds a broader tale that in fact we are all works in progress. We are ever changing individuals and we do not have to be "this" or "that" for our whole lives. Gurney followed his family's wishes, entered the military like his father before him, and later decided that his passions for writing were too strong and returned to school and became a teacher and an author. As we age, we continue to change. We see the world through the eyes of our children. We witness a world that is broken and that calls for all of us to be kind and to "create" beauty in the world.

We are all unfinished works longing to express those things which reside in our hearts.

Christina Myatt