Solon High School Drama Club brings “The Addams Family” to stage for their 2023 musical on April 20-24. The family is popular– there’s movies, shows and musicals about them. Technical Director Joseph Ferencie said the play is about an older version of Wednesday who has graduated from high school, fallen in love with a normal boy and wants to get married.

“She’s terrified though because she needs to tell her parents, and she’s invited this boy and his parents to dinner,” Ferencie said. “And no one’s ever met each other and no one knows that they’re engaged.

“So, Wednesday tells Gomez her father and makes him promise not to tell Morticia until the dinner,” Ferencie said. Gomez has never ever told a lie or held anything from his wife in his life, and he can’t handle it… And so it’s that kind of family dynamic of, ‘what are you hiding?’”.

The set is a large component of the production. Ferencie says there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of special effects.

Kris and Joseph Ferencie picked “The Addams Family ” based on the amount of drama club students and their talent.

“We can’t ever do a show that we don’t have the people to play the parts. We never precast, we never say this person is gonna play this role,” Ferencie said. “But we don’t do a show that we wouldn’t be able to do.”

SHS typically doesn’t do a repeat show for 10 years, and “The Addams Family” has never been done before. But Ferencie said the reason “The Addams Family” was truly a good fit for SHS is because it’s time for some fun.

“‘[The] Addams Family’ is definitely different, the comedy is a little darker and a little different, and it’s just fun,” Ferencie said. “It seemed like the right show to do this year.”

Senior Stage Manager Andrew Hall said during the rehearsals they are all trying to build a bond between the ensemble and leads so it is a successful show. In the days leading up to the musical there is work to be done from behind the scenes and the performers.

“I get together with our department heads, my other stage managers and talk about what we’re gonna do to prepare the stage, what we’re gonna present, and then try to coordinate with our hair and makeup team with who I need and who I don’t need,” Hall said.

Senior Sari Zager, who plays Morticia, said auditioning for her is fun, but, she did some background research to prepare for her lead role.

“I was listening to the cast recording for a while,” Zager said. “Probably all summer and this whole year I’ve just been listening to the original cast recording. I watched some versions of other high schools doing it on YouTube. I watched the original 1960s show…and then I also watched the movie remake in the 90s.”

But for the day of the show, Zager has a different preparation process about taking care of herself.

“I don’t drink caffeine–I don’t have dairy because it also just coats your throat,” Zager said. “Before the show I get home, maybe take a bath if I need some relaxing, and then I drink peppermint tea.”

Students in Drama Club love the musical season. Zager says her favorite part is performing, dancing and auditioning.

Ferencie said there are many performers we should look forward to.

“The lead characters are going to be fantastic,” Ferencie said. “I think that the two actresses [Callie Ament and Lizzie Walsh] playing grandmama will potentially steal the show. Because they are just so funny.”

Tickets go on sale on March 13 on the Solon City Schools Website.