Each spring, Jessica and Dirk Beamer write an original script for, and stage a play with, The Edge … a teen performing arts group at Hope Lutheran Church in Farmington Hills. This year’s production, Tell Your Story, focuses on four high school seniors facing their fears and sharing their hopes as they anticipate life after high school. Weekly rehearsals were well under way when Michigan’s Shelter in Place order brought business as usual to a sudden halt.

“We have thirteen kids in the show this year,” says Dirk. “As we talked with them, we realized how frustrated they have been – the seniors especially – by all of the cancelations changing their end of school year plans. With buy-in from the group, we decided to keep practicing – through the wonders of zoom – in hopes that we’ll be able to do the show one way or the other before our seniors head off to college in the fall.”

Each Wednesday night, The Edge convenes online for rehearsal. More recently, students have scheduled one on one virtual sessions with adult mentors to work on music and drama. And as Dirk reminds the group, “We can’t promise them how or when this might happen … whether onstage or in a parking lot or online … but we’re committed to doing whatever we can to honor and showcase all of their hard work, talent and commitment.”