“Dear Mr. President”: Edison Students Tackle the Topic of the Election in an Unprecedented Year

February 22, 2021

The “Dear Mr. President” promotional poster created by Edison High School Theater.

Students may likely be facing one of the most monumental school years of their lives. Not only has a global pandemic changed the way all of us coexist, work and go to school — but the presidential election of November 2020 was one of the most consequential and noteworthy of our time.

In 2016, Edison High School produced the first ever Dear Mr. President, a student-led production in response to the 2016 election. As the 2020 election approached, the Edison team knew they wanted to reprise it for a new election cycle — and that they’d need to find a way to produce it virtually, amidst distance learning and a global pandemic. That’s where Project Success came in.

Max Athorn, a Project Success partner teacher (and alumnus of PS!) wears many hats at Edison High, including Artistic Director of the Edison Theater program. His familiarity with Project Success led him to invite our staff to be a part of the 2020 production of Dear Mr. President.

“Edison had this idea, and thought PS could help make this an enriching experience for students,” said PS Edison Facilitator Rose Yackley.

“In my last ten years as a teacher and theater director at Edison, I have watched Project Success continue to evolve and develop to meet the needs of students,” said Max. “This year, when we knew our fall theater production couldn’t rehearse and perform the way that it usually does, we looked to Project Success and a resident artist to help deliver a fall theater production that met the moment. Dear Mr. President, Sincerely We was a sequel to a production TEHS Theater created four years ago, and the 2020 iteration was rich with emotion and vitality.”

Five students and six student tech crew members brought the show to life, with the help of director Nora Montañez Patterson, a well-known local performer and director in the Twin Cities.

The students met four times a week over the course of six weeks. Each day, they’d kick off with a check-in: “Every day it was, ‘Hey, where are you at today? How are you coming to this meeting today?’” said Rose.

Next, it was a Project Success team building activity — something that quickly allowed them to form a community.

A still of Edison student Layaned from “Dear Mr. President.”

“A lot of the students said those activities were their favorite part,” said PS Program Manager Katie Langemo. “When you think about it, they don’t have passing time or lunch time right now. They’re missing those chances to connect with one another.”

These activities would lead into a writing prompt led by Nora and a chance for students to share out, practice and refine their performance plans.

“We probably did two weeks of personal reflections and talking about identity before we even started to talk about politics,” said Rose. “That concrete time together felt really important.”

The opportunity gave students a chance to reflect on the immeasurable change of the last four years — change in the world, in their schools and communities, and in their own lives. The resulting production tackles everything from racism to COVID-19, climate change and gun reform, and the ways those issues affect students’ lives directly today.

The pre-recorded video was presented to audiences streaming over Facebook live over three nights, each time with a different set of student performers online for a live Q&A with the audience.

“The great brilliance of Project Success, over 25 years and especially in these last twelve months, is in its flexibility,” said Max. “They have a unique gift for listening, ideating, adapting to the needs of the moment, and then delivering a steadfast presence which is both comforting and inspiring.  It’s fun to work with Project Success, because they make it fun — they make anything feel possible.”

The multimedia and virtual nature of the production allowed students to splice in media from various sources: Hand drawn comics, photos and television footage, social media and more.

“This was a way for students to tap into what would be, I would imagine, a huge topic of conversation at school if they were in person,” said Rose. “It’s giving them that outlet to say, ‘Oh, we’re all going through these really huge things.’”

As the program wrapped, and amidst conversation about the heavy challenges facing the next generation of voters in our country, there was ultimately a message of hope. As Edison 10th grader Maxine says in conclusion to the production: “We need hope, we need resilience, we need grit. Hope that even with downfalls, we can continue to pick ourselves back up again, so keep standing up and keep fighting for what is right. Don’t ever stop getting back up.”

Watch Dear Mr. President on Facebook