Hello! Our names are Abby Schuh and Kennedy Sheehan and we are the directors for this year’s 2025 student directed Spotlight Production, The Outsiders! We are so honored and excited to have this leadership opportunity here at OPHS. When looking for a potential play for our troupe, we were overwhelmed with so many wonderful production options, and our decision was definitely not immediate. During our search for the right play, we were both aware of the new Outsiders musical on Broadway, and we were curious if there was a play adaptation of the classic novel. To our luck, we found Christopher Sergel’s The Outsiders Play, and immediately knew that this was the show we wanted to present.

Both of us feel a strong sense of nostalgia towards this show, and we think it’s wonderful that we were able to start our high school careers by reading The Outsiders our freshman year, and then ending them with the opportunity to take this story and make it our own. The Outsiders, a freshman year English class staple, was written in 1967 by S.E. Hinton. The play adaptation was written by Christopher Sergel in 1990, and is an accurate depiction of the classic novel. The story follows Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, Dallas Winston, the Curtis brothers, and many more young Greasers and Soc’s in 1967 Tulsa Oklahoma. This play addresses social classes and societal barriers in a touching coming of age story between the Greasers and the Soc’s.

Directing this show has given us the opportunity to make our visions and ideas come to life on stage. We’ve enjoyed working with each production team to add symbolic layers to each scene through lights, sounds, sets, props, and costuming. This show has allowed us to deep dive into one of our favorite stories, even in this small amount of time. We’ve been learning so much about play production and what goes on behind the scenes of a show, and we’re so grateful to be working with our amazing teams.

We want to thank the amazing cast, crew, parents, and volunteers who we wouldn’t have a production without. A special thank you to Mrs. Schneider and Addison O’Grady, who put up with us and our crazy ideas every rehearsal. We both think so highly of this troupe and the people in it, and we can’t express our gratitude towards you all enough. The wonderful experiences and memories that we’ve made these past few years in theatre will last us a lifetime. Please enjoy The Outsiders!