30 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 and unsettling—characters learn that realizing their dreams can have unexpected consequences. Audiences at Lehigh will see a version developed in a long process that began in summer 2025. Kashi Johnson, chair of the department of theatre, is co-directing the production with Lyam Gabel, assistant professor of acting and directing. They are part of a 10-member production team, five faculty from each department, who have worked together on the show. “Starting that early and with this commitment has allowed us to do new things that we’ve never done before,” Johnson says. “And the artistry and high standards are shared among all of us.” A Musical for This Moment Choosing Into the Woods seemed appropriate, not just for the quality of Sondheim and Lapine’s work, but also for the ways the musical reflects today’s societal issues. Monica Hershberger, associate professor of music, served as the play’s dramaturg, helping to explore its questions with the two directors. “I worked with Kashi and Lyam…to talk through what Into the Woods might mean in 2026.” She notes that, in 1987 when the play premiered, many saw parallels with the AIDS epidemic. “When asked, Stephen Sondheim admitted that this was not his intention, but he understood why viewers might read [it] in this way. This prompted me to consider how Into the Woods speaks to moments of crisis and rupture—and what those moments might be in the present,” Hershberger says. The co-directors say societal issues are central to their creative vision for Lehigh’s production. Audiences are walking into the woods when they enter Zoellner Arts Center this April. A collaboration between Lehigh’s theatre and music departments is bringing a newly reimagined production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s acclaimed fairy tale musical to the Diamond Theater. Into the Woods intertwines familiar tales and characters like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella and examines what really happens after “happily ever after.” In its second act—often dark More Than a Musical VICKI MAYK Lehigh’s Theatre and Music Departments collaborate to reimagine Into the Woods
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