By MJ Johnson
Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty whacks, and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one. This haunting nursery rhyme is the inspiration behind Gold Winterguard’s thrilling 2024 program, 40/41. We spoke with Gold’s director, Joey Valenzuela, about the inspiration behind the show, different interpretations of Lizzie, and looking forward to the 2025 season.
Telling Lizzie Borden’s Story
When asked about the show’s genesis, Joey shared that he had the idea for the show in mind for a while and that, with the support of his staff, he decided 2024 was finally the year. Gold Winterguard had a great cast of young adults that he wanted to explore this story with. Joey is a huge fan of the horror genre, and he has always found Lizzie Borden’s story interesting. He likens it to an almost “Who-Done-It?” even though, in his opinion, it’s “extremely obvious” who did it. He was drawn to Lizzie as a character.
Bringing Lizzie to Life
Gold decided to look at Lizzie’s story through the lens of the nursery rhyme. That’s where the show title comes from. When bringing the character to life, Joey and his team didn’t want to necessarily create a chronological story. Instead, they wanted to create snapshots of what Lizzie might have seen and what her state of mind might have been. They decided on telling the story from the position that she was a little crazy or mad.
“When we found out later that other groups were also doing Lizzie Borden, I realized that we all have extremely different interpretations of this storyline!” Joey said. “It’s interesting that we all had these different takes on the same story. We just went a little bloodier!”
Joey shared that he took inspiration from the aesthetics of the time, but with a modern twist. They wanted the Victorian look: long skirts and ruffles, embellished collars lined with lace. “I had this idea of her covered in blood from these horrific murders,” Joey said. “There’s no evidence that she looked like that, but you don’t come out clean after what she allegedly did.” Joey shares that he bloodied up the costumes himself as a way to give each performer their own individual aesthetic.
Memorable Moments
One of Joey’s favorite moments in the show is when a performer is standing over the couch as she looks down at her “father.” That moment came from an image of her father on the couch. Joey wanted to recreate that moment and used the couch to create iconic imagery throughout the performance. There were performers jumping and contorting on top of it to constantly create these scenes.
“The couch broke at one point during the season,” Joey shared. “Luckily we have some amazing guard dads who were able to reinforce it.”
Joey also shares the special electricity they all felt the first time they put the show infront of an audience. “It was cool to watch the kids be these angry characters because they are the sweetest, nicest, friendliest kids you’ll ever meet,” Joey said. These performers had to dig deep to find the craziness of the performance. Having such a great audience reaction helped them to drive the storyline and the performers were able to bring the audience into the story they were telling. Joey also shares that he had a clear picture of the show’s ending, where Lizzie takes her father’s life. Taking Gold’s large cast and creating that focal point brings the performance to its conclusion. For Dayton, they even added a bloody handprint to “Lizzie’s” face for that final cherry-on-top element.
Looking Forward
This is Gold Winterguard’s first time in Open Class. Joey shares that he’s excited for the new things they can bring to Gold and to keep doing what they do well at the next level. They are expanding and changing how they look at the design of the show and are excited to dip their toes into the Open Class arena. “We are very thankful to the Gold Youth Arts Organization,” Joey shared. “We are lucky to have such a big umbrella supporting us and we are extremely grateful for the support we receive from them!”
About the Author:
Madison Johnson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a BA in English Language and Digital Technologies with a concentration in Technical Writing. She currently works as a copywriter for a Software as a Service company in Charlotte, NC. She was a member of Étude Winter guard for five years from 2015-2019.
