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A new trailer for HBO’s upcoming documentary, Song of Parkland, offers a poignant look at how Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School drama teacher Melody Herzfeld helped students cope with the aftermath of the mass shooting that left 17 people dead. The film is set to premiere February 7th.
The day of the shooting, Herzfeld and her students were rehearsing for their annual children’s musical when the alarm went off. Herzfeld famously rushed 65 kids into the closet in her classroom to keep them safe, and in the following weeks, she and her students continued to prepare for the show, recognizing it as an opportunity to both heal and bring back joy to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Song of Parkland trailer offers a behind-the-scenes look at the exuberant children’s musical rehearsals that followed the mass shooting, while it also juxtaposes those sequences with footage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students leading protests for new gun control laws. The clip also features interviews with several students and Herzfeld, who recalls at the end of the clip, “When they came back to school, I said, ‘I promise you, life is so good.’”
Herzfeld’s work during and after the shooting earned her the Tony Awards’ annual Excellence in Theatre Education Award last year. The show also featured her students performing the Rent hit “Seasons of Love.”
