Things Get Freaky and Philanthropic at NHS Musical

October 19, 2026
• The freakiness starts on Friday, Oct. 23.

Shortly after the final bell at Needham High School on Tuesday afternoon, dozens of students funneled through the auditorium, throwing their backpacks and water bottles down and climbing onstage for a warm-up exercise.

The spring musical at NHS is a sizable undertaking, with close to 100 students participating between the cast and crew. Often missing from those productions, however, is a sense of purpose, senior Miles Yountz said.

“We’re just putting on theater for the sake of putting on theater,” Yountz said.

Students Acting to Make a Difference, abbreviated SAMD, offers an opportunity for NHS thespians to take the stage with a larger mission in mind. The in-school organization stages an annual fall musical and donates all of its ticket proceeds to a local nonprofit.

For the second year, SAMD shows will benefit Boston’s OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center. SAMD will stage “Freaky Friday” at Newman Elementary School on Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m., as well as on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m.

Yountz, board president of SAMD, said each production typically generates between $7,000 and $9,000. That funding supports a chosen nonprofits’ programming and events.

Since joining his first SAMD show freshman year, Yountz said he’s gained perspective.

“I’m able to be at a school that has such a vibrant theater program, but there’s a lot of places in the world that don’t have access to those sorts of things, especially in Massachusetts,” he said. “We wanted SAMD [to be] an opportunity to use our ability to have these strong music programs and use that to help put a little good back in the world.”

The charitable aspect of the performances serves as a motivating factor for NHS senior Amelia Broderick.

“I think knowing that what we’re doing is contributing to a cause that needs support makes every rehearsal so much more worth it,” Broderick said. “There are definitely days where we’re tired and we want to go home, but then we think about the outcome and we think about how fun we’re having just performing. We are donating to such an amazing cause just by doing something we love, so it doesn’t even feel like community service or work.”

Founded in 2007, SAMD most recently produced “Chicago” last year and “Legally Blonde” in 2024. In the fall of 2015, following the retirement of SAMD founder and director Paul Duprey, productions became entirely student-run.

That same year, Amber Crossman and other NHS students staged “Legally Blonde” and started a tradition of soliciting rotating outside directors to assist in SAMD productions, one of whom was Kristen Mazzocchi, who now works at NHS as a theater director and teacher.

Funnily enough, Crossman returned to her alma mater to direct 2024’s “Legally Blonde,” and is now co-directing “Freaky Friday” with Mazzocchi.

Crossman, now an English and theater teacher at St. Sebastian’s School, said this is her first time working with “Freaky Friday,” a relatively new musical. The screenplay was adapted from a series of movies — including the 2003 Disney version and its 2025 sequel — and an original book.

In the musical, polar-opposites Katherine and her teenage daughter Ellie inadvertently swap bodies for a day and are forced to navigate the other’s relationships and challenges. Broderick plays Katherine-turned-Ellie, and NHS senior Katie Memory plays Ellie-turned-Katherine.

“It’s a very good acting exercise, I can tell you that,” Broderick said.

The show boasts a large ensemble and balances upbeat and comedic moments with more heartfelt ones, Crossman said.

“This is an incredibly talented group of young people putting on a show about understanding yourself and family dynamics,” she said. “[It’s] a show about really loving and caring about the people that you’re around, and realizing how to interact with and love and appreciate those people that you’re with when you’re with them.”

For Crossman, student theater is about ensuring young performers build skills and have fun, but with SAMD, there’s always an extra educational component: teaching students how to take something you love and “expand out to your wider world,” she said.

Stage manager and NHS junior Louisa Krauss said SAMD reframes her outlook on her job behind the scenes.

“You have the sense the whole time of, ‘this is enjoyment, this is great for me, and this is developing me, but also it’s work, and I should be taking it seriously,’” Krauss said.

SAMD’s partnership with OrigiNation is mutually beneficial, Mazzocchi said.

“It’s really fun to just share kind of the artistry, because I’d say our programs focus more on singing and acting, and their programs are a little more on dance,” she said.

With under a week before opening night, the cast is rehearsing off-book. Yountz lamented that his part, Ellie’s love interest Adam, is “remarkably hard” but one he’s come to love.

Yountz encouraged audiences to experience a new musical with the benefit of giving back.

“Especially during times of social-political upheaval, especially right now, I think it’s really, really important to focus on doing good things to help people who absolutely need it,” he said, “and to help out other organizations who are doing similar things like that.”