1776 is an important year for Emerson, New Jersey. It is the year New Jersey declared independence from Great Britain as one of the 13 original colonies, and it is the title of the current musical at Emerson Junior-Senior High School.
The musical 1776 takes place during the early years of the American Revolution. This country’s founding fathers – George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson – are working to get all colonies to sign the Declaration of Independence and break away from Great Britain.
Isabella Hasset has the challenge of playing two very different roles. Hasset plays Thomas Jefferson’s wife and Thomas McKean. McKean was a representative from the colony of Delaware who came from Scotland. McKean served in the Second Continental Congress and is an original signer of the Declaration of Independence, according to an online encyclopedia.
“Playing two roles wasn’t too difficult as I had done something similar last year,” Hasset said. “However there was a drastic difference between being an angry scottish man and a kind southern bell, but in the end I was able to play both roles well. ”
These high school performers bring to life images from history books. The play portays debates in the Second Continental Congress as waell as battles on the field between militiamen from the Continental Army and Redcoats from Great Britain. Diana Tamayo plays the courier for the play. A courier is a mail carrier. She sings a song about a dying solider called “Mama Look Sharp”.
“I wanted to show the pain that the soldiers went through and what the war was like,” Tamayo said.
The division between northern and southern states on the topic of slavery is also a part of the musical. Oliva Karathomas plays Edward Rutledge, a proslavery representative from South Carolina.
“Art is meant to make the disturbed comfortable and the comfortable disturbed,” Karathomas said of her role.
There are three performances left: an evening show on Friday, March 8; and a matinee and evening show on Saturday, March 9. Tickets are $15 a person. People can reserve a specific seat in advance.
