Senior, Avery Smith, shares her behind-the-scenes look into Hartfield’s Theater Production and More!

We love when students are willing to share and express their talents with their fellow students, faculty, and parents. This year, Avery Smith is sharing her talents as the writer of this year’s fall play, Rewritten: The Lies That Bind Us. Avery has been involved with Hartfield’s performing arts program since last year’s Rewritten performance and is thrilled for the opportunity as the playwright.

The only requirement Ms. Hatcliff, the director of fine arts, gives the students when deciding what to rewrite is that it must be a Shakespeare play. The imagination is left up to the students to become creative in the way they present his story. This year, The Lies That Bind Us is taken from Shakespeare's King Lear. “I think part of the reason why King Lear stuck out to me was that Lear loved his daughters so much, but only one of them truly loved him back and that was the daughter that was banished. It just seemed so realistic in the sense that unfortunately, bad things happen to good people, and it had a strong family theme, which I love.”, shared Avery. 

Avery and her classmates, along with Ms. Hatcliff, have worked diligently to have their performance ready for Saturday. With the anticipation of the night slowly making its arrival, each student is eager to set the stage and perform the play that is always loved by so many. Avery expressed the scene she was most looking forward to and why - “My absolute favorite scene is the end of Scene 5 of Act 3 to the end of Scene 1 of Act 4. The sequence of events that takes place always gives me goosebumps when I imagine it, and our cast is fantastic in the way they bring it all to life, so it's definitely the scene(s) I'm most excited for!” This is a perfect example of how this theater performance brings our students together in their passions for theater.

Being a student writer for an entire fall play requires a lot of hard work. When asked why she wanted to take on such a large role she answered, “I've always loved writing and creating stories ever since I was little, so when Ms. Hatcliff asked me to write Rewritten, I jumped at the opportunity. I've always wanted to share my stories with others as well, and I felt like God had presented this perfect moment to do so.” Avery shared the unique way that God led her to dive into her talents as a writer. As mentioned earlier, she plans to publish her first novel, The Aether Chronicles: Rebellium, by 2023. This is an incredible accomplishment! Avery shares that she has always had an expressive imagination and a love for writing. In March 2020, Avery began her initial ideas that have now turned into a 150,000-word novel! “I have a cover, and I’m currently in the process of setting up a line editor so it can be published soon. I am aiming to have a physical book in my hands by 2023.” We are excited to cheer her on along on this journey.

As you can see, Avery is a talented Hartfield student and we are tremendously proud of what she has and will accomplish! Rewritten is more than just a great performance, our students are able to come together creatively and work on something they are passionate about. We are all looking forward to seeing the ways each individual involved will shine!