Breathe in. Breathe out. Before the curtains were pulled back, Lily Levitt ’26, assistant director of The Prom and ensemble member, was trying to calm her nerves. Between vocal exercises and words of encouragement, Levitt peeked through the curtains to find her family and friends in the packed auditorium.
The Prom, a 2017 musical following a lesbian student in a conservative town adapted for Stevenson was announced as the fall musical in March, after considering elements like student pitches, cast size, and the annual fine arts theme, “accept one another.” Students were also given the opportunity to promote the musical along with perfecting the play, making sure the annual theme was made clear to the audience.
“At its heart, the show champions themes of both self-acceptance and embracing others for who they are,” Levitt said. “It celebrates love—external and internal—while promoting kindness and selflessness. These universal values made it an ideal choice for our stage.”
Levitt’s interpretation of the play’s theme of self-acceptance and acceptance of all is shared with other participants in the production. To Abra Chusid, theater teacher and production director of the musical, The Prom is reflective of real-world issues and serves as a means to both educate and represent members of the LGTBQIA community.
“It’s a new musical that came out in 2017, so it really speaks to what’s happening right now in the world, ” Chusid said. “We always look at plays that will give diverse acting, technical, and design experiences. There are so many places in the world where student voices are being oppressed, especially queer students, so celebrating individual identities that represent students in our school is really important.”
Despite excitement from the cast and theater community, Dimitry Bilanicz ’25, Thespian Honor Society executive board member, found students’ responses weren’t always positive. For example, when promoting others to come to watch the musical, Bilanicz was often met with disinterest when people were made aware of the LGBTQIA-related content in The Prom.
“I would tell someone about the show, [then they would] look up a synopsis, see the phrase LGBTQIA, shut off the phone, [and that was the] end of the interaction,” Bilanicz said. “It felt strange to always have an eye out for something bad to happen.”
Bilanicz noticed that a combination of student disinterest and intolerance and the overall unfamiliarity of The Prom musical led to a smaller audience compared to previous productions. According to GoFan records, previous musicals like Beauty and the Beast (2022) and Legally Blonde (2023) sold 3,013 and 2,620 tickets, respectively, while The Prom (2024) sold 1,979 tickets. Levitt witnessed pushback from students prior to the show, actions that she thinks contributed to the lower attendance.
“When people were promoting [the show], they had the posters ripped from their hands and ripped in front of their faces, even thrown at them,” Levitt said. “[Another time], a group of guys just screamed the ‘f’ slur at me because it was our opening night, and they thought it would be a good idea to scream that.”
Bilanicz and Levitt’s experiences were repeated for other members among the theater community. For Chusid, moments like these further demonstrate the need for plays, like The Prom, that cover diverse perspectives that students may not regularly think about.
“That speaks to the reason why stories representing queer students are so important because hate speech is never okay,” Chusid said.
In addition, Chusid recognizes that a decreased emphasis on fine arts could have also been factored into the lower turnout. To her, engaging with the arts can help students learn important skills that may have further implications for students’ education in the long term.
“I think our world undervalues the arts, and as a school and community, we need to do a better job educating families about how artistic experiences are part of a strong educational program,” Chusid said. “Being introduced to different topics or different types of arts through different stories is how we develop empathy as people.”
While she also acknowledges the difference in turn-outs compared to previous years, Levitt values the message the show conveys over the amount of people in the audience. Levitt feels confident this musical was able to inspire people who may have found themselves represented by the characters on stage,
“There were definitely less people in the audience, but it didn’t feel different while performing it or during the process, because in theater, it’s not about how many tickets you sell, it’s about telling the story,” Levitt said. “So for the people that did come, we made an impact on them.”
From Levitt’s observations, with the debut of The Prom at Stevenson, issues related to acceptance in the community have become increasingly apparent and this musical can serve as a way to initiate changes. Although the content of the play may not be necessarily accepted by everyone, Chusid feels The Prom can still provide a way to promote inclusivity and respect for all individuals in our community.
“It’s important to listen to people, get to know a person,” Chusid said. “That goes certainly for sexuality, but also race, religion, ethnicity, and culture. The more opportunities we have to celebrate who people are, the more we can learn about them and learn not to make judgments based on how we might perceive someone to be.”
Both Chusid and Bilanciz hoped that following Emma Nolan’s—the main character in The Prom—journey to acceptance, this play would be able to serve as a turning point in fostering a welcoming community where all can feel safe to be themselves. As important as this message is, Bilanicz acknowledges that, in the end, this shift in perspective must be made by the individuals themselves.
“We don’t want to enforce any ideas onto people,” Bilanicz said. “We don’t want to convert any people’s beliefs about acceptance and open-mindedness. We’re just presenting a message about what we believe, and whether or not you come to the show, that’s your choice. If you do come to the show, whether or not you accept those beliefs is also your choice. The best we can do is just try to influence that.”