By KORY HARDING
HRVHS 2008
November 20, 2007

When I first learned last spring that I had landed the role of Adam and Noah in the HRVHS musical “Children of Eden,” I was wildly excited. Then, after looking at what that role requires vocally I became, frankly, scared witless.

“What if I don’t have what it takes?” I would find myself saying. I’d never sung that much by myself in my life. In fact I had had very little solo singing experience prior to this. I realized the only way to accomplish what seemed to be a monumental undertaking was to break the role into parts and get some voice lessons.

The voice lessons with Lynn Thomas would help strengthen my voice and help learn parts, as the songs with six flats were beyond my mom’s piano playing ability. I was rehearsing for the play “The Tavern” at CAST, so I decided not to worry about the dialog of the play until after daily doubles started on Aug. 20.

Most of the musical consists of songs with not much dialog in between. Focusing on becoming comfortable singing alone, in front of people, became my main priority.

During this process, I fell in love with Children of Eden. Not only are the songs beautiful and dramatic, but their lyrics contain potent messages. Characters develop in complexity including the Father (God). Or, as humanity’s consciousness develops, so does our understanding/image of God.

The overall theme of the story strikes a chord of hope in an uncertain world. Having grown up in a household aware of many horrible human and environmental atrocities, the idea that the next generation in this world can create a better new world gives me great hope.

This doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, but it does mean that it is at least possible. With a mere 213 days until this year’s seniors are released into the wild, how perfect it is to do so with this one thought: If we work as one, we can make a difference. For starters, it’s time for humanity to give up its addiction to war.

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