Interview: Lizzie Hagstedt Invites You to HEREVILLE A at the 30th Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival

Jun 6

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The 30th Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival has begun, bringing with it over a month of music, theatre, and speakers from June 1st - July 16th. One of the events is a musical called the brand new musical HEREVILLE, co-produced by Kids On Stage Productions, which has been adapted from the popular graphic novels by Barry Deutsch about a spunky 11-year-old girl. Composer Lizzie Hagstedt talks about adapting this show from page to stage, and what audiences of all ages can expect from the show. HEREVILLE is playing June 11th at 7pm at The Old Globe, and July 9th at The Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center.

The Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival is a wonderful celebration of theatre, arts, music, and people all exploring Jewish history. The beauty of a long-running festival, one that's now in its 30th year, is that some of the very people it entertained and inspired years prior are involved in the current production this year. Lizzie Hagstedt, who is the producer of HEREVILLE, is happy to bring this story of a plucky 11-year-old girl to the stage and hopefully encourage the next generation of adventurous and creative kids.

Based on graphic novels by Barry Deutsch, the graphic novels follow Mirka, who lives in an Orthodox Jewish community with her family. Mirka is smart, and adventurous, and finds herself going on many adventures. For this production and with the author's blessing to write “your own HEREVILLE”, Mirka is still bold and brilliant, but this story will focus on the love between Mirka and her stepmother as well as “celebrates the women who pass along the light of Jewish tradition.”

Lizzie says that the process of creating a new show has been a fun creative challenge.

“There are a number of cut songs to comprise the bonus tracks on our original cast album. Barry Deutsch the author of the graphic novels was insistent that we create our own Hereville. It has been a process of finding our way through condensing three books into a single 90-ish minute show. There are many elements that are of our own invention. We cut characters or combined characters, but I hope we have maintained the spirit of Barry’s world. He has always been an incredibly supportive force throughout this process, as a lifelong theatre lover himself.”

While Lizzie has been working on bringing this show together for a while, and after having a reading earlier this year, she is very excited for audiences to experience HEREVILLE during JFEST.

“There are cast members in the show who are younger than this musical. We’ve been working on it for quite a while. We did a reading in March at Congregation Beth Israel and prepping for that put our process into hyperdrive. Since then we’ve spent the intervening months combing over the script and trying to make the story as clear and concise as possible, and we are incredibly excited to share where the piece is now with audiences at JFest!”

Hagstedt fell in love with theatre at a young age and was performing in this festival when she was about the same age as the HEREVILLE main character Miriam, and Lizzie says that she hopes that this show inspires another generation of creative explorers of all ages.

“When I was six years old my mother took me to see a high school production of ANNIE and that launched a lifelong love of musical theatre. I hope that this show can serve as that for someone. I think it has the potential to be an exciting new addition to the canon of family musicals that hit that Pixar sweet spot, while accessible and exciting for kids, equally if differently exciting for their parents. What I love about readings is that it is very much up to your imagination. You design the sets and costumes in your head, and you can make magic without the aid of wires.”

Hagstedt hopes this show and the experience open up the opportunity for families to share a unique theatre experience, as well as maybe spark a love for arts that continues to be nurtured beyond this show.

“I hope people talk about what first made them love musical theatre. Maybe mom will tell the story of when she saw her first musical or dad will tell the story of how he was cast in the play that one time in middle school or the kid will ask when they can see another show. And maybe they’ll say how exciting it is to say they saw an amazing new show before anyone else.”

In the end, HEREVILLE is a show about celebrating the love and support of family, and never being afraid to be uniquely, and wonderfully you.

“At the center of most musicals is a character searching for themselves and searching for community. Mirka, the main character in Hereville, needs a meteor transformed into an exact clone of herself to learn to embrace the weird, wonderful girl she is and to accept her family loves that weird, wonderful girl. I know we’ve all seen hundreds of musicals where a meteor transforms into an exact clone of the protagonist, but if you want one more, we’re that show!“

How To Get Tickets

HEREVILLE is playing Sunday, June 11, 7pm @ The Old Globe and Sunday, July 9th at The Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center. For tickets and show time information go to https://www.sdjfest.org/support or http://www.lizziehagstedt.com/hereville.html

You can also follow the show and Lizzie on Instagram at Instagram: @herevillemusical and @lizzielikescheese