Natalie Safley starts off her class by taking a deep breath in, stretching her arms up, and then dropping her upper body to the floor with an exhale.

Although Safley is a new face to every student here at Triton, she isn’t a new face for a few teachers. Safley is taking over the drama department this year, replacing Sharon Riordan who announced her retirement late last year. And she already has huge news: Triton has won the rights — and a grant — to be the first to produce Disney’s Frozen as a theatrical production.

Triton won rights to produce Frozen The Musical, originally directed by Michael Grandage, after entering a nationwide contest set up by Disney. Triton will be one of 51 schools across the nation to perform the show. 

Under the theme, “Love is an Open Door”, the schools entering the Disney contest were asked to pitch their own ideas of what they wanted to do with the show. Safley will be putting together her own version of the show with a more modernized look.

Safely said, “As part of the grant proposal, we had to talk about how the theme ‘Love is an Open Door’… How are you going to bring that to the community? And one of the things that I think is unique to Triton is that the district is three towns that are so far apart; and I really wanna bring the towns together, and so through this program, there will be lots of opportunities to bring the towns together… Not just the show itself but the events surrounding the show will bring the towns together, and then also different groups of people who wouldn’t normally be together… Just as the story Frozen breaks the stereotypes and preconceived notions about what defines true love, our production of Frozen will break the audience’s ideas of what they think a live production will look and feel like.”

The production will have a more modernized Scandinavian look while also taking inspiration from the book Odd Bird by Derek Desierto. The town characters will be dressed in bright beautiful colors, but when Elsa gets removed from the city, she will become more and more black and white, showing a growing disconnect from the city and its culture.

Although she is a senior and won’t be participating in the show, Coates added, “I was excited for some of the younger kids… seeing as we will have a bigger budget and we will be able to do a lot more with theater through the school.”

When speaking to Triton art teacher and Safleys new “mentor,” Ms. Toni Fein, Fein said this about Safley. 

“Her way of being enthusiastic and mellow at the same time, and a sharp, keen, observer, it was just great to converse with her in and outside of school.”

Seven years ago, Safely took over for Riordan so that Riordan could spend time with her first grandson. Since Safley has been in a situation before where she needs to take on a program, this is nothing new to her. When asked if she had any fears about the next year Safley said, “I’m coming on it strong.”

“Natalie had an advantage the others didn’t have,” said Riordan. “She knew Triton.” 

Safley is breathing  new life into the drama program, and both teachers and students see her arrival as beneficial and welcomed. She has made big waves already in her three months of tenure, and is all around ahead of the game. She has introduced students to the Thespian Honors Society, which grants kids new opportunities past their high school drama class, to continue to perform for the rest of their lives. In addition, the theater program will be performing The Addams Family, originally directed by Julian Crouch, on December 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. 

Triton senior Brenna Coates, who plays the part of Morticia in The Addams Family, is looking forward to the possibilities under her new theater teacher. 

“It’s a little different having a new person, but she is a big person on bonding with the cast, and I think that’s really important for newcomers, and freshman, and new students around the school that wanted to try theater in their high school career,”

Addams Family The Musical will be showing December 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and fourth while Frozen will be performed in the Fall of 2023.