Backstage

As I mentioned in a previous post, as soon as the curtain went up, the work of the three adults involved in “Fiddler on the Roof” was finished. Come performance time, the students handled all the technical aspects of the production including lighting, sound, effects, set changes, costume changes and stage direction, while the adults sat in the audience, perhaps just a little more nervous than most. During the third and final public performance, I was granted the special privilege of observing the play from the wings. It was from there I saw individuals whom I’ve known for years, mostly as little kids on the playground, take on the responsibility of working together without supervision to make a production come alive. There was a sense of purpose. It was all for one, one for all; in all my years of coaching youth sports, I never saw such devotion to the team. Despite the brief moments of levity depicted in the photograph above which took place during a rare moment of calm as the action took place before a closed curtain, everyone performed their job with dead seriousness. It was a joy to watch.

As the music teacher and one of the theatre directors, it is so exciting for me to have such a thriving arts community here at Stone Academy. Thanks to our Friends of Stone Academy parent Organization, we are able to produce fully staged musicals each year with full costumes, sets, microphones and lighting. There many CPS schools who don’t have the resources to accomplish such a task, and without our FOSA organization we would be in the same boat. FOSA sponsored events have resulted in large donations over the last few years to upgrade our sound system and lights, and each year sponsors the musical expenses like costumes, sets, and rights/royalties.

Another amazing thing about the Arts programs at Stone Academy is the diversity. Every year, we are able to tie in our students’ culture to the script. Our school population is so diverse and rich in culture, we are always able to find real life experiences to inform our performances. In Fiddler on The Roof, we were able to work with a large group of Jewish students to talk about their customs and make sure we were being culturally appropriate with costumes and gestures. When we produced Peter Pan, we were able to have a discussion with a family who had Native American ties, to make sure we were culturally sensitive to the “Brave Indians” in the script. In The Lion King, we were able to work with students from Nigeria and Ethiopia to incorporate traditional African movement into the choreography. Celebrating our cultural diversity through the arts is my favorite part of Stone Academy, and I hope the readers and viewers of CPS Lives can see that through these photographs. 

-Caleb Naimy