Hahnville High School’s Talented Theatre was the only theater program in Louisiana to win a spot in Disney on Broadway’s inaugural School of Excellence program, which grants schools free licenses to produce Disney stage musicals. Disney on Broadway invited 21 schools nationwide to join this year’s cohort.
The Talented Theatre will perform the Hunchback of Notre Dame in fall 2025, according to Megan Harms, one of the Talented Theater teachers and a troupe director for Hahnville High School’s Thespian Society.
“We picked [the Hunchback of Notre Dame] because of the French heritage in the area, the Catholic heritage in the area,” Harms said. “The theme of the story of what it means to be an outcast and what it means to feel like you must hide your true self from the rest of the world. We felt like that resonated with teenagers.”
Harms said the musical is not as popular as other titles.
“I think that’s going to be fun because a lot of the kids have never seen a production of it,” Harms said. “A lot of it will be their own organic ideas.”
She said she is also excited for students to learn the music of the production.
“The music in the Hunchback is so, so good,” Harms said.
The application for the School of Excellence required programs to demonstrate their student-led approach to theater productions. Harms said students in the theater program take on leadership roles and are involved in the production process, including the scenery, light board, sound board, choreography, box office and marketing.
“We could check a lot of the boxes in the application,” Harms said. “The goal is always that, when we start the show, the director can sit in the audience and the kids run the whole thing. It’s their production and we’re there to facilitate it. Everything is based around that idea.”
Disney on Broadway partnered with Musical Theatre International and the Educational Theatre Association to form the School of Excellence. The new initiative celebrates Disney’s 30th year on Broadway, according to the Educational Theatre Association’s website. In addition to the free license for a Disney production, the program also includes free production materials and virtual webinars hosted by theatre professionals.
In 2022, Disney Theatrical awarded HHS’s Talented Theatre program the rights to perform Disney’s Frozen: The Broadway Musical. Only one high school in each state won the exclusive rights, and Good Morning America featured the school in a 2023 TV segment.
The Talented Theatre performed the Beauty and the Beast Nov. 7-10.
