EVHS to Present First Texas Performance of Harry Potter Play
The magic of Hogwarts is coming to East View High School this fall as the school was chosen to be the first in Texas to perform the spellbinding play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
EVHS was one of 29 schools across the United States to win the Wands at the Ready contest and become the first in their respective states to produce the high school edition of the play outside of Broadway. The play is set 19 years after the Harry Potter series’ final book and follows the adventures of Harry’s son, Albus Severus Potter. “We anticipated that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child would become a very popular title once it became available for license, so we wanted to give schools around the country a special opportunity to be the first in their state to produce this global phenomenon,” says Jeffery Keilholtz, senior vice president of marketing for Broadway Licensing Global. “As a result, we worked in coordination with the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child team to create this contest as a fun way for schools to have extra bragging rights!”
The contest asked schools to record a short video explaining why their school is the most magical place to receive the opportunity to perform Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
“The result was incredible. We couldn’t believe how cool and creative so many of the videos were, and we had numerous submissions from across the states – including Puerto Rico.”
Jeffrey Keilholtz
A huge fan of the Harry Potter series, EVHS Theater Director Jon DeMitchell was thrilled to learn about the Wands at the Ready contest. “I brought it to our varsity theater class, and they loved the idea of creating this magical world at East View.”
EVHS’ video was a take on “Now That’s Music” commercials from the 90s and featured students in a classroom answering questions about why they were hoping to be a Wands at the Ready winner and, in March, EVHS was in the spotlight as a contest winner. “Being selected as the school to represent Texas for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the highest of honors,
proving the hard work, creativity, and passion of East View’s theater students is recognized by the larger theater community,” Jon says. “We are over the moon to tell this important story of a young man finding his place in the world and his family, and I can’t think of a better group of students to share this experience with.”
What made the East View High School submission stand out, Jeffery says, was how sweet their video was and the way it focused on making it clear why their school was the most magical. The contest judges also appreciated that the video involved teachers and administration, and how it added more and more visual elements as students built their case. “They worked hard, did a wonderful job, and deserved to be amongst the other Wands at the Ready winners.”
East View is set to perform Harry Potter and the Cursed Child this fall.