A mythic journey to the underworld awaits Island audiences when the hit musical Hadestown opens next week at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.
Opening night is Thursday, Feb. 12 with performances continuing through Feb. 15.
Anaïs Mitchell’s 21st-century reinvention of the ancient Greek tale about Orpheus and Eurydice won eight Tonys and a stack of other drama awards in 2019, followed by a 2020 Grammy for its cast album.
“It’s still touring and still running on Broadway,” said theatre teacher Brooke Hardman Ditchfield, who is directing the student production.
Hadestown has become so popular, she said, that some teenagers have told her that they first learned about Orpheus from the musical.
“We’ve talked a lot in class about the nature of myth,” she said. “These stories are so old that they can’t help but evolve and change and adapt.”
Ms. Hardman Ditchfield has double-cast the musical’s lead roles due to an abundance of student talent.
The Friday and Sunday performances will feature Luiz Lacerda as the minstrel Orpheus, Georgia DeRoche as his love Eurydice, Zyler Flanders as underworld ruler Hades and Cayhana Williams as his part-time queen Persephone, with Anthony Smith as Hermes, the narrator.
On Thursday and Saturday, Bryan Fernandes and Haydee Turner will play the earthly lovers, Brady Vought and Lilli Claussen the royal couple and Rayssa Moraes the role of Hermes.
The Three Fates, who appear throughout the show as a chorus, are also double-cast but not divided between performances, so all six appear together.
The Vineyard show also has a robust corps of young singer-actor-dancers and a technical crew of students including stage manager Jason Jarrell and costume designer Roxy White.
“It’s really exciting when those bigger production responsibilities can be handed off to students,” Ms. Hardman Ditchfield said.
Led by performing arts center director Charlie Esposito and his assistant, Lauraye White, students also are learning to operate the sound and light equipment for the show.
A skilled group of “PAC rats,” as they’re sometimes called, graduated in 2025, Ms. Hardman Ditchfield said.
“We are training up the next group,” she said.
Mr. Esposito and Ms. Hardman Ditchfield are part of a seasoned team that has been producing musicals at the high school since 2014, when the show was Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
Other longtime members of the team include music teacher and Minnesingers director Abigail Chandler, a former Minnesinger who now heads the performing arts department, and community members Ken Romero (choreography), Chelsea McCarthy (costumes) and Brad Austin (sets).
Music teacher Stephanie Aurenz signed on more recently — this is her third MVRHS musical.
“I am so incredibly lucky that I get to work with Abigail and [the others],” she said. “It is such a supportive, positive place to teach.”
Ms. Aurenz has put together a live orchestra for the show with seven professional musicians and student percussionist Katelyn Tankersley.
Ms. Tankersley, who is competing on snare drum at this weekend’s All Cape Music Festival in Barnstable, will play a host of small percussion instruments that add color and texture to the award-winning score.
Island musicians Brian Weiland (guitars), Rebecca Laird (violin), Violet Southwick (cello), Ted MacInnes (drums) and Nicole Macy (piano) also appear in the onstage orchestra, alongside Mashpee music teacher Matt Burrows, whose trombone solos and asides are essential to the Hadestown sound.
“This [music] is challenging — not just from a technical perspective,” Ms. Aurenz said, noting that the orchestra provides a soundtrack to the action as well as backing for the songs.
“There’s a lot of sound effects, there’s a lot of nuance, there’s a lot of style. It’s what we call a virtuosic book,” she said.
While some of the music is intentionally rough and off-kilter, reflecting the characters’ moods and action, other parts are spellbindingly lovely, Ms. Aurenz said.
“I sometimes forget that I’m supposed to be conducting. It’s just beautiful,” she said.
Ms. McCarthy, who attended the high school and acted in plays during her time there, came on board for the musicals after developing her costuming skills at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse.
“My approach to anybody who wants to work on the costume team is, you tell me what you find interesting and I can do whatever is left over,” Ms. McCarthy said. “It’s your show. I’m not going to give you grunt work that you don’t want to do. I want you to be inspired and have fun.”
Sometimes, Ms. McCarthy said, there’s not much student interest in costuming and she does it herself. But with Ms. White, who also worked on last year’s Anything Goes, she’s delighted to simply be a mentor.
“Roxy has done all sorts of incredible work,” Ms. McCarthy said, citing a feathered jacket Ms. Moraes wears as Hermes and a dress for Persephone that Ms. White dyed and appliquéd with flowers.
“That was all Roxy. She’s really going for it,” Ms. McCarthy said.
The student experience also is important to Mr. Austin, a carpenter who works with Ms. Hardman Ditchfield’s production class to design and build the set.
“I like watching the kids develop as actors or tech [hands] or whatever it is. It’s always fun to watch their skills improve — their confidence changes and their personalities start to flourish,” Mr. Austin said.
That’s really what it’s all about, Ms. Hardman Ditchfield said.
“At the end of the day, this still is a class at the school,” she said. “Yes, we want to have a great show, but the point is to learn — to learn skills in terms of your art and technique, but also … the life skills we want our students graduating with.”
Shows are Feb. 12, 13 and 14 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the Performing Arts Center before show time; $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens.
This article appears in February 6, 2026.
The High School plays are the highlight of our Island winters and no one should miss sharing in this amazing community experience.
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