Songs In The Key Of Life

Melody Herzfeld Has Taught Drama At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School For 16 Years. On February 14, 2018, She Made A Snap Decision That Saved 65 Students.

- Anna Menta

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, MELODY HERZFELD, THE THEATER DIRECTOR at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, began an annual tradition of producing a show for local elementary school children. That’s what her 65 students were rehearsing on the day 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 teenagers and staff members at the Parkland, Florida, school. Nearly one year after the massacre, Amy Schatz’s 30-minute documentary Song of Parkland (premiering February 7 on HBO) tells the story of Herzfeld and her students on that day and in the months that followed.

The students—a mix of ninth- through 12th-graders—were rehearsing a musical based on the picture book Yo, Vikings! by Judy Schachner, and the film includes their decision to move forward with the production after the shooting, as well as the joyful response to their opening night on April 13, attended by elementary schools from the surrounding area. (At the 2018 Tony Awards in June, Herzfeld received an excellence in theater education award, and her students performed the Rent hit “Seasons of Love” on the stage.)

In an interview with Newsweek, Herzfeld says that while time does heal, “there’s nothing normal about this school right now.” She couldn’t be prouder of her students featured in the documentary, many of whom led the charge in political activism for gun control in the attack’s wake, including #NeverAgain movement founding member Alex Wind. But Herzfeld also wants people to remember that “they’re just kids.” While they might be able to speak out, “with feeling and determination, to stand on cars and lead marches,” she says, “they are so fragile inside.”

Q. What do you remember from February 14, 2018?