In learning about how The Addams Family found popularity after its initial professional mountings, I wanted to dig one level deeper. Thanks to Jim Hoare at Theatrical Rights Worldwide, I had learned why the show was a popular choice for amateur and student groups.Beyond all of the reasons a school would choose The Addams Family, I wanted to know about their experience producing the show: How did their mountings vary from the professional production I had heard about, both those in the U.S. and around the world? And were these students able to experience a kind of joy working on the show that I didn’t experience in the Broadway company?Luckily, Jim himself was able and willing to connect me with one of the first high schools to produce an amateur production of The Addams Family: Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia. A thriving theatre program with not one, but two full time theatre teachers, Rock Ridge produced the show as its fall musical in the 2017-2018 school year. And lucky for me, I was able to speak to both of those theatre teachers about how their students experienced the show...