SANDY HOOK: Indian Hill Stage Sets Scooped Up For Sandy Hook Benefit

Stage sets and props used in an Indian Hill Music School production are reprising their role in a small town hit with tragedy. After sitting in the music center's basement for a year, the sets are now being donated to a charity production of "Seussical the Musical" benefiting Newtown, CT, and featuring Sandy Hook students.

The original sets were designed and constructed by Indian Hill Music School faculty member Susan Bonito, and her friend, children's illustrator Leanne Leutkemeyer, for Indian Hill's annual summer musical theater production last year. After the sets were no longer needed, they were stored in the music center's basement, forgotten until Bonito, the show's director, posted them for sale on Craigslist.

She was surprised when she got an email from independent NYC-based director Michael Unger, asking to have the sets and props donated for an upcoming production of Seussical that will feature children from Sandy Hook Elementary School and high school students from the area. Proceeds from ticket sales will go towards building a multi-million dollar Performing Arts Center as a memorial to those who lost their lives and loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Dec. 14, 2012.

Bonito says she is "so proud" that she can help the cause in a small way and that the sets will be put to good use. Fittingly, the values of responsibility, friendship, and faithfulness are central themes in the musical.

Bonito has been producing summer musical theater productions with children ages eight-18 at Indian Hill for more than 10 years, in a month-long festival called "Summerdaymusicaltheater." This summer, she will be producing and directing "Beauty and the Beast, Jr," with three performances in Littleton, from July 19-21. Learn more at IndianHillMusic.org or 978 486 9524.