SHS Musical Production of ‘The Prom: School Edition’ a Full Circle Moment

e Prom: School Edition’ to run Dec. 18-20 at SHS M. Ruth Norton Auditorium

SALEM (Dec. 11, 2025) – O*N*S*T*A*G*E, the drama club at Salem High School, presents its annual winter musical, ‘The Prom: School Edition,’ Thursday through Saturday, Dec.18, 19, and 20, at the M. Ruth Norton Auditorium.

Performances are Thursday and Friday, Dec. 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. The run time of ‘The Prom: School Edition’ is approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes with a brief intermission.

Presale tickets are available at SHSonstage.ludus.com. Admission is $10 for students, seniors, and active military; and $15 general admission.

Winner of the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical and now a Netflix movie, ‘The Prom: School Edition’ is a story of love, acceptance, and standing up for oneself. The premise is centered upon a luckless group of Broadway stars who disrupt a small Indiana town as they rally behind a teen girl who simply wants to bring her girlfriend to her senior prom.

With a score by Matthew Sklar blending Broadway show tunes and youthful pop numbers, and a book by Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin, this show is a blend of comedy and heart, said SHS Theater Teacher/Director Leah Hamilton French.

“It’s obviously a very topical subject,” Ms. Hamilton French said. “It’s heartfelt, funny and a bit irreverent. At a pivotal moment, the main character Emma sings ‘I’m who I am, and I think that’s worth fighting for.’ As a teacher, that is what I most hope for the young people I work with – that they develop their sense of self and self-advocacy. So it was a story I could get behind, while also being joyful and a good fit for our performers and technicians.” 

While the production itself is certain to evoke emotion, it has extra meaning for Ms. Hamilton French. This show’s seniors were freshmen when she came to SHS in 2022-23.

“This is our full circle moment as a department,” she says. “Four years ago we were still coming back from masked and remote learning, where kids spent significant time alone and behind screens. The bravery, collaboration, and hand skills required from theater is a very heavy lift. It has been wonderful to see our performers and crew members grow those skills as we regrew our department. We now have almost 30 kids working backstage and as many onstage.”

The show also deeply resonates with her cast. 

“I’ve always been a socially anxious kid, but drama has always brought me out of my shell, especially in high school,” said senior August Hunter, Drama Club president who plays the lead role of Barry Glickman. “During the pandemic, we cancelled my sixth grade show, didn’t do a seventh grade show, and eighth grade still didn’t feel right. So getting back into theater in high school really helped bring back that spark that I hadn’t felt since elementary school and set me up for what I am going to do next, which is study theater in college. I’ve gained a stronger sense of self through doing theater, and this show especially hits hard as it relates to my queer identity.”

Not only has theater arts come full circle at SHS, said Ms. Hamilton French, it is thriving. The key pieces are in place for a sustained bright future.

“Our students have taken on a lot of leadership as they have grown,” she said. “In addition to honing their performance skills over the years as they rose from ensemble to lead roles, many of our seniors help run warm-ups, coach younger castmates on lines, and set a positive tone in rehearsals. This year I met with all the senior crew and a lot of them have taken on directorial roles. There has been a lot of senior-to-freshman mentorship. We’ve emphasized passing the torch to our younger students.”

In particular, Ms. Hamilton French lauded the work of seniors Ella Jackson, artistic director and lead scenic designer tasked with coordinating the show’s 14 locations; Raymond Nguyen, who is mentoring a freshman cohort in lighting design; and Lizzy Mahady, who rose from creating props and scenery as a freshman to serving as assistant director for ‘The Prom.’ 

Ms. Jackson, who plans to attend college to study theater production and design, credits her work in the drama club with setting her on that trajectory. “I feel so passionate about it now,” she said. “At some point, I realized it was more than just an after school activity, but something that I could do for my life. I started without having a sense of who I was going to be, now I am graduating happy and content with the person I’ve become.”

In spirit with the District’s strategic plan core value of belonging, the show will run with several add-on features: 

• Consistent with the show’s premise, the North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (NAGLY) will have a presence in the lobby to connect audience members with resources and information.
• Audience members are asked to bring and donate clean and gently used formal wear to the Clothing Connection to benefit students unable to afford such attire.
• A photo booth will be set up in the SHS lobby and audience members are encouraged to dress for the occasion.

Also notable is the work of the SHS Career Technical Education (CTE) graphic design students who, under the direction of teacher Jennifer Toler, created the graphics for the show. The winning designs of senior Gemma Murphy, as chosen by cast and crew, were used for the program book, posters, and promotional materials. 

The Prom School Edition is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.theatricalrights.com

About Salem Public Schools

Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts, a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens through which we view our work. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff unconditionally serves each of our 4,000 students across 11 schools regardless of ability or language.