Director's Notes

Greetings! And welcome to Audience of One’s production of Beetlejuice Jr. We have had a wonderful time this past month preparing our show with these students; parents, thank you for sharing your children with us and trusting us to create art with them. 

Our students have been working so hard to put this show together. At Audience of One, we have high standards for our students. We teach them how to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism, as if theatre was their career. We know that some in our company may choose to pursue theatre one day as their livelihood, and it is our goal to help prepare them for that end. This requires a great deal of time and effort from every single student, and they gracefully rose to the occasion. I think you’ll be very impressed by the art these students have created together. I know I was amazed by their talent every single day of rehearsal!

Beetlejuice Jr. holds a special place in my heart, and I’m thrilled that we are presenting it to you today. Over five years ago, I had the opportunity to see the original production of the full-length version on Broadway, and I knew immediately that I wanted to direct it one day. This process has been so fulfilling for me, and I hope it was for our students as well. If you’ve seen the original movie but never had the opportunity to see Beetlejuice the Musical, you’re going to have a blast; if you’ve never seen the musical or the movie, you’re in for a wild ride! During our show today, I expect you’ll laugh, cry, and be shocked once or twice (hopefully not to death! Spoilers!)

Most importantly, we hope that throughout our production, our students have seen God. He is present in all things, and our directors team has striven to lead with love. We check in with each student every day of rehearsal, allow them to share access needs for that day, and some days I spend time reading children’s books to them to teach lessons. We also take every opportunity to speak words of truth, wisdom, and love over them that they can reflect on long after our production is finished. Ultimately, we want each of our students to know that they are loved by us and by God. 

A personal thank you to Angie and the rest of the Audience of One Productions leadership team for inviting me to come and be a part of this wonderful group of students and volunteers to create this show with you! And a thank you to my fellow directors who have been magnificent partners as we have planned this production throughout the year. 

Thank you, and please enjoy the show!

Braden Miller

Director