A thank you letter:

Cast and crew ‘reaffirms why we do what we do’ To the editor: As part of its coverage in this paper, mixed in with all the political hyperbole of the last several months, you’ve no doubt seen that the Robert W. Souza Scholarship for the Performing Arts recently presented five performances of “Seussical, the Musical,” as a benefit to raise money for our annual awards to Monroe-Woodbury students. As chairman of the scholarship, I must take this time to thank the many cast and crew members who gave so much of their time and talent to make our production an artistic success. In addition to director and co-producer Tony and Donna Funaro, I also thank the many parents who “loaned: us their kids for eight weeks and waited so patiently while their young ones rehearsed their dance steps or learned their lines and songs. To those in the M-W school district and other surrounding districts who assisted in making this production possible, we also thank you. Several thousand people attended the show and, by all accounts, were delighted by the uplifting, colorful musical spectacle. Based upon more than 20 years of experience in community theater, I can say with some authority that no production is ever easy. But from the beginning, this show was beset by issues, both large and small, which were enough to raise the blood pressure and lower the tolerance level of many of us adults on the production team. And as is the case with many of our productions, we had a large number of young people and students in the cast and crew, mostly from Monroe-Woodbury, but some from other school districts, like Newburgh and Washingtonville. But in spite of the production’s difficulties, and even when a personal tragedy affected a young cast member just prior to the show’s last performance, the cast, even the youngsters, reacted and performed like seasoned veterans. The theatrical adage “the show must go on” was in full force, and cast and crew gave an absolutely extraordinary final performance, channeling, as they must have, their emotions into their work, their characters. As co-producer of the show, I could not have been more proud of them, all of them, including the 40 or so youngsters under 10 who performed in the show. Many people, who must not know any better, often seem to take great pleasure in disparaging our youth, dishonoring our young people. But as an advocate for kids and students and young people, I want to report that the spirit of caring, of community, of other-centeredness is alive and well, at least within the students and young people who worked so hard on our show. They demonstrated, to a person, a level of emotional maturity that I would like to see replicated among some of my “adult” acquaintances. It reaffirms for me why we on the committee do what we do, and the overarching reason for our efforts in raising scholarship money - as cliched as it may be, “for the kids” is the most genuine reason of all. Thanks again to all. Bob Curtis Souza Scholarship Chairman