R-14 Page 1 of 2
2025
VT LEG #382030 v.1
No. R-14. House concurrent resolution honoring the Vermonters who created the
Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown and the Vermont theatrical youth
ensembles now staging exhilarating teen performances.
(H.C.R.9)
Offered by Representatives Chapin of East Montpelier, Birong of Vergennes, Casey of
Montpelier, Cordes of Bristol, Donahue of Northfield, Goslant of Northfield, LaMont of
Morristown, McCann of Montpelier, McGill of Bridport, Mihaly of Calais, North of
Ferrisburgh, and Yacovone of Morristown
Offered by Senators Hardy, Perchlik, and Watson
Whereas, shortly after New Haven’s Anaïs Mitchell graduated from Middlebury
College in 2004, she completed the original minimalist version of the future Tony
Award-winning Broadway musical Hadestown, a modern rendition of the Greek legend
of Orpheus’s ultimately futile journey into the underworld of Hades to return Eurydice,
his wife, to the world of the living, and
Whereas, in 2006, Anaïs Mitchell; Lincoln’s Michael Chorney, orchestrator;
Montpelier’s Ben T. Matchstick, co-creator; and other theatrically talented Vermonters
premiered Hadestown at the Old Labor Hall in Barre, and in 2013, Anaïs Mitchell, in
collaboration with Broadway director Rachel Chavkin, Michael Chorney, and others
began revising Hadestown for greater theatrical glory, and East Montpelier’s Robinson
Morse has been an on-stage performing musician with the show since at least 2019, and
Whereas, on April 17, 2019, the dream became a reality when Hadestown debuted to
rave reviews at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theater, and in June of 2019, the creators’
unusual perseverance was recognized when Hadestown received eight Tony Awards
(Broadway’s highest accolade and the most any show won that year), among which were
Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (Rachel Chavkin), Best Original Score (Anaïs
Mitchell), and Best Orchestrations (Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose), and
Whereas, the young thespians of Peoples Academy in Morrisville and the nonprofit
Very Merry Theatre in Burlington recently performed a new teen version of this
Vermont-created and Tony Award-winning show, and
Whereas, under the leadership of U-32 Middle and High School Performing Arts
Director Erin Galligan Baldwin, and the unique guidance of Anaïs Mitchell and Ben T.
Matchstick, an ambitious U-32-Montpelier High School joint presentation of the teen
production is currently being staged at U-32, and
Whereas, Vermont youngsters’ presentation of the teen version of Hadestown, with
the support of the musical’s creators, is an unusual theatrical event worthy of celebration,
now therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly honors the Vermonters who created the Tony Award-
winning musical Hadestown and the Vermont theatrical youth ensembles now staging
exhilarating teen performances, and be it further R-14 Page 2 of 2
2025
VT LEG #382030 v.1
Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
Anaïs Mitchell, Michael Chorney, Ben T. Matchstick, Rachel Chavkin, Robinson Morse,
Peoples Academy, the Very Merry Theatre, Erin Galligan-Baldwin, U-32 Middle and
High School, and Montpelier High School.