An all middle school performance was recently shown on March 22nd to the 23rd. It was middle school Production Design’s first ever show, and all students from 6th-8th grade had a role in the performance.
-Calliope Dean, 8th Grade
An all middle school performance was recently shown on March 22nd to the 23rd. It was middle school Production Design’s first ever show, and all students from 6th-8th grade had a role in the performance. Teachers from both Theatre and Production Design wanted to make sure that every student was involved. “We wanted to involve the majority of the theater students in both middle school and high school to perform throughout the festival days. This required a lot of preparation and rehearsal during class time,” says Rolando Morales, Co-Chair of the OSA Theater Department.
The theater teachers wanted to make it similar to performances that they had done in the past, but wanted to make sure that each grade had their own show.
Sarah Vela, OSA Alumni and Theater teacher, shares, “The expectations were that each grade would present a piece they had been working on. We decided to do scenes from Peter Pan. What was surprising is that we could have had more scenes, but it ended up being better that way because they were able to polish those scenes more.”
Middle school students in both departments used this performance as a way to experience going through rehearsals and tech. Clark Burrows, 6th grade Theater student says, “My favorite part was probably the tech because we got to do a lot of rehearsal on the actual stage and not just in the classes.” Burrows played the role of Hook in the 6th grade performance, “Something that surprised me was that I got the role of Hook because I understudied him so well.”
Backstage was stressful and hectic for both Theater and Production Design. I had the wonderful opportunity to experience backstage and preparations for both nights of the performance. It was great to be able to see everything that happens behind the scenes to put on the incredible performance we all got to see.
Despite it being their first time running a show, middle school Production Design did an incredible job and really made the show. Especially considering the fact that they had such little time to prepare. “I loved working with the Production Design students and thought that their work was amazing, and I am looking forward tremendously to collaborating with all of them again in the future,” Morales reflects.
“It was great. They are all very fast learners. And the best part about this class is how kind they are to each other. They’re just nice people in general. It’s a very nice working environment for me as a teacher, and it’s a nice learning environment for the students,” says Jean-François Revon, Chair of Production Design Department.
Tavia Percia, Co-Chair of the Theater Department states, “I would say that the process was extremely hard because we were running two shows right before the festival. We were doing Lysistrata and then Every 28 Hours and then the Theater Festival, so it was a lot for such a short period of time.”
The show was put together with little time and all of the students and teachers had to be prepared to put it on as quickly as possible. Maida Zoeller, 8th Grade Theater student says, “I’m proud of the fact that we were able to pull this together in only a couple months.”
Even with all its ups and downs, the Middle School Theater Festival was entertaining and fun to watch and see all the work finally come together. And I really appreciate the opportunity to see everything that happens behind the scenes to make this all possible. I asked everyone who was interviewed from both departments what about the performance they were most proud of:
“I’m most proud of my teacher, Mr. Revon, because he’s great and we all love him.” Ethan Hajduk, 7th grade Production Design student.
“That I did it without dying. Actually I’m probably most proud of Clark Burrows because he had to do Sean Crow’s role and he was amazing.” Eleni Leventis, 6th grade Theater student.
“I’m most proud of all of the stuff that I accomplished with the lighting over two days of rehearsals, and to do all of that was pretty amazing for the sound and production team.” Talise Murray, 8th grade Production Design student.
“I’m proud of doing it. Going up on the stage and performing can be hard but I’m proud of myself for doing that.” Petra Capron, 6th grade Theater student.
“I’m proud of Coco Abajian because she was helping out with props and was running really fast to help everyone.” Kailynn Gatlin, 6th grade Theater student.
“I’m proud of the way that we could scramble together costumes really quickly,” Burrows answers.
And I would like to once again thank Mr. Revon for allowing me to tag along for the beginning preparations and for letting me be backstage to experience everything that goes on behind the scenes.
The theater teachers wanted to make it similar to performances that they had done in the past, but wanted to make sure that each grade had their own show.
Sarah Vela, OSA Alumni and Theater teacher, shares, “The expectations were that each grade would present a piece they had been working on. We decided to do scenes from Peter Pan. What was surprising is that we could have had more scenes, but it ended up being better that way because they were able to polish those scenes more.”
Middle school students in both departments used this performance as a way to experience going through rehearsals and tech. Clark Burrows, 6th grade Theater student says, “My favorite part was probably the tech because we got to do a lot of rehearsal on the actual stage and not just in the classes.” Burrows played the role of Hook in the 6th grade performance, “Something that surprised me was that I got the role of Hook because I understudied him so well.”
Backstage was stressful and hectic for both Theater and Production Design. I had the wonderful opportunity to experience backstage and preparations for both nights of the performance. It was great to be able to see everything that happens behind the scenes to put on the incredible performance we all got to see.
Despite it being their first time running a show, middle school Production Design did an incredible job and really made the show. Especially considering the fact that they had such little time to prepare. “I loved working with the Production Design students and thought that their work was amazing, and I am looking forward tremendously to collaborating with all of them again in the future,” Morales reflects.
“It was great. They are all very fast learners. And the best part about this class is how kind they are to each other. They’re just nice people in general. It’s a very nice working environment for me as a teacher, and it’s a nice learning environment for the students,” says Jean-François Revon, Chair of Production Design Department.
Tavia Percia, Co-Chair of the Theater Department states, “I would say that the process was extremely hard because we were running two shows right before the festival. We were doing Lysistrata and then Every 28 Hours and then the Theater Festival, so it was a lot for such a short period of time.”
The show was put together with little time and all of the students and teachers had to be prepared to put it on as quickly as possible. Maida Zoeller, 8th Grade Theater student says, “I’m proud of the fact that we were able to pull this together in only a couple months.”
Even with all its ups and downs, the Middle School Theater Festival was entertaining and fun to watch and see all the work finally come together. And I really appreciate the opportunity to see everything that happens behind the scenes to make this all possible. I asked everyone who was interviewed from both departments what about the performance they were most proud of:
“I’m most proud of my teacher, Mr. Revon, because he’s great and we all love him.” Ethan Hajduk, 7th grade Production Design student.
“That I did it without dying. Actually I’m probably most proud of Clark Burrows because he had to do Sean Crow’s role and he was amazing.” Eleni Leventis, 6th grade Theater student.
“I’m most proud of all of the stuff that I accomplished with the lighting over two days of rehearsals, and to do all of that was pretty amazing for the sound and production team.” Talise Murray, 8th grade Production Design student.
“I’m proud of doing it. Going up on the stage and performing can be hard but I’m proud of myself for doing that.” Petra Capron, 6th grade Theater student.
“I’m proud of Coco Abajian because she was helping out with props and was running really fast to help everyone.” Kailynn Gatlin, 6th grade Theater student.
“I’m proud of the way that we could scramble together costumes really quickly,” Burrows answers.
And I would like to once again thank Mr. Revon for allowing me to tag along for the beginning preparations and for letting me be backstage to experience everything that goes on behind the scenes.
