Message from Emma

Dear Playmakers families and friends, Welcome to Disney’s Descendants, a Playmakers premiere and the last show of our 2022-2023 Season! As you journey with us to Auradon and the Isle of Evil, we hope you will join us in thanking our wonderfully generous friends at The Joseph & Florence Mandel Jewish Day School. Mandel JDS so graciously opened their doors to us after our original venue, Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, experienced a fire earlier this spring. We feel grateful as ever to be part of the supportive and resilient Cleveland Jewish community! This season, we partied at an 80s wedding, wiped away tears during “Edelweiss,” and saw dancing dressers and napkins come to life in Inside Beauty & The Beast. Now, we have the joy of bringing a Disney mega-hit from the big screen to the stage. What a way to end a whirlwind year!

The story of Descendants is one of community, togetherness, perseverance, and true friendship – all values we teach and celebrate at Playmakers. It feels right, too, that during our season “honoring the past and looking towards the future,” we’re showing a contemporary twist on some of the most classically well-known Disney tales. What strikes me most about this story is that the message at its core is the message at our core, too -- we are better and more powerful when we are team. At Playmakers and in Auradon, we learn that every voice deserves to be heard, that every individual belongs, and that there’s magic in togetherness. We are so proud of our two remarkable casts who’ve demonstrated those very ideas since their first rehearsal, and I am so thankful to Annie and our outstanding production team who’ve brought Descendants to life with patience, heart, and imagination.

We hope to see you this summer at a camp show or at our fan-favorite 24-Hour Musical (save the date: July 15) and as we unroll exciting news about next season.

Enjoy the show, Emma

The 2022-2023 Playmakers Youth Theatre season, our 25th anniversary year, is dedicated in loving memory to longtime Playmakers Costume Designer Linda Joynt (z”l). Linda made Playmakers a place where generations of children and teens felt loved, comfortable and ready to shine on stage from head to toe. We miss her deeply.