Broadway Licensing Global announces its selection of two schools to make history as the first to produce pilot productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child School Edition. In the United Kingdom, Barking-based Riverside School will have the opportunity to host the first-ever production of the School Edition. Following Riverside, Hoboken High School in Hoboken, New Jersey, will be first to produce the North American pilot production of the School Edition.
After a month-long evaluation process, BLG and the producers of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child assessed applications from numerous schools before landing on Riverside and Hoboken High as final selections. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Riverside School in the UK and Hoboken High School in the US be the first to present this Schools Edition of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the entire team is looking forward to supporting the students and teachers in bringing the story to life for the first time on a school stage,” says producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender.
In addition to each school being in close physical proximity to the BLG London and New York offices respectively, for collaboration purposes, “it was critical to us that we identify schools with facilities and resources most similar to the greatest number of schools worldwide,” says Sean Cercone, Founder and CEO of BLG.
Both Riverside and Hoboken High are state/county schools with standard stage, lighting, and sound equipment. As well, like most educational drama department budgets, each program is, in large part, financially self-reliant and without the benefits of private donations, endowment funds, or state-of-the-art provisions. “These pilot productions are a learning process for us, to ensure that any school, regardless of its resources or budget, can produce this show with success,” continues Cercone. “We cannot wait to collaborate with Riverside and Hoboken High and use our learnings to provide helpful information to schools that will produce the show in the future.”
Riverside School intends to produce its pilot production between March 20 – 23, 2024, with Hoboken High to follow between May 15 – 19. Teachers and administrators at any secondary or high school worldwide can sign up to receive updates as to when and how to license Harry Potter and the Cursed Child High School Edition in 2024.
“We’re over the moon that our students will have the opportunity to put on this incredible show,” says Kennedy Bloomer, Head of Performing Arts at Riverside School. Adding to the excitement, Danielle Miller, Director of Performing Arts at Hoboken High, concluded, “at Hoboken High over 250 students already registered to audition.”
Now through December 15, 2023, high schools in the United States and U.S. territories can also participate in the “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child High School Edition: Wands at the Ready” competition to be first in their state or territory to produce the official version of the show. Read full contest details at: https://broadwaylicensing.com/wands-at-the-ready.
