Editor,
I just got home from a really great party. The buzz in the packed room was keen, warm, and hummed with excitement. Conversation was constant, and the food was fabulously retro! Where was I? Christ Church. They were throwing a “Welcome Hairspray Party!”

So on behalf of all of us at Lost Nation Theater and everyone involved in Hairspray, I send a giant thank you to Christ Church – particularly Maggie Thompson and Elizabeth Parker – for hosting a joyous party that Welcomed Hairspray to the Community and the Community to Lost Nation Theater’s Hairspray.

Hairspray is the biggest show in LNT’s history. It not only involves Vermont pros and high school students, but a dozen artists from across the country are calling Montpelier home for the next 5 weeks. Another reason to celebrate? Hairspray, hilarious and powerful, packs an important message into the punch, joy and sheer exhilaration of a Tony-Award-winning musical comedy.

Thanks to partnerships between LNT, Christ Church, Peace & Justice Center, Outright Vermont, and Vermont Works for Women, conversations & programs about racial justice, body image, transgender, tolerance and acceptance will all be part of the Hairspray project. (find out more at lostnationtheater.org) Those conversations got started in a really fun way tonight! (I mean, door prizes of specially decorated cans of hairspray donated by Myles Court Barbershop, Fritos & onion dip? It couldn’t get better!)

So thank you to Christ Church for throwing a party to introduce the intergenerational, multiracial, multifaceted Hairspray to central Vermont.

Kathleen Keenan