Into the Woods

Into the Woods asks that we consider how we tell our stories to the next generation, because they will listen. I’d like to share something of my own through this production—a story about music. I wouldn’t have known I could earn a living working in the arts if others had not hired me as a musician while I was still in high school. The money I earned helped me buy my horn and keep playing, keep believing. The 21-piece orchestra you see onstage includes pre-professional musicians (high school through college) playing alongside local professionals who are engaged as artists and mentors.

I don’t only want you to see how beautiful it looks, having such a blend of ages on this stage tonight; I want you to imagine how beautiful it feels to sit in one of those seats and make something incredible happen with so many people around you. When the Baker does not know how to comfort his child, his Wife advises, “Tell him what you know.” People often think that their own story isn’t enough; oddly, though, it always is.

This is what I know: Into the Woods tells us that the span of a single life is very small; we are born, we live, we die. And yet, while we live, the actions we take will create something new—something added to the world that wasn’t there before. In this way, “we die but we don’t” (“No More”). My wish is for something to happen here tonight that puts a little bit of all of us into all of you.

I’m glad you’ll be able to take a bit of Catherine Coulson as well, reprising her performance as the Giant. She passed away in 2015, but her collaboration on this piece remains—as does the creativity of everyone involved in OSF’s 2014 production. What you’ll see tonight isn’t a re-creation of that production. Some actors are the same, and many are not. This is a new visit into the Woods—and we’re glad you’re here.

—Amanda Dehnert