The curtains are rising. 最后.

In 3月 2020, the 上学校’s production of 报童 opened and closed on the same night; it was the last major live theatrical production before the pandemic began. Now, with vaccinations in arms and safety protocols in place, live theater is happening again. The Middle School kicked off with two short plays performed under the title The Mask Project. 第一, BET9官方APP是面具, featured both 8^th grade drama classes; 第二个, Emotional Baggage, was an extracurricular activity.

“The first play is about the masks that we all sometimes hide behind, depending on who we’re with and the situation,” says Middle School theater teacher Garry Tiller. “The message is very strong: Can we get beyond the masks that we wear?” The second play, also performed in masks, is entirely nonverbal and tells the story of various characters 搜索ing for connection as they cross paths in a train station.

Getting the students back onstage after nearly two years was a challenge and a joy. “This year was very much about starting over—some of these kids haven’t done any theater or even seen any theater for years, 如果有的话,他说. “There were a lot of teachable moments that came along with doing this, and it was incredibly exciting. I was trying to make up for lost time.”

That was the sense when the 上学校 began rehearsals for its fall play, 泡芙, Or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic. The comedy by Matt Cox tells the story of a certain famous boy wizard, but from the point of view of the students sorted into the Hufflepuff house, who are often overshadowed by the members of the more famous houses.

“The very first rehearsal, there was this energy in the room,” says 上学校 theater teacher Sentell 哈珀. “The cast was just so excited to be in person, and as we’ve gotten closer and closer there’s been this energy that’s been pulling us through.”

哈珀, who is himself a Hufflepuff according to the online Pottermore quiz, found a surprising meaning in exploring the characters in Hogwarts’ friendliest house.

“First, it’s fun—and I think everyone needed to laugh and breathe and just have joy again,他说. ”, 泡芙 is a story about friendship; it’s a story about these friends who may never have come together, but this unfortunate and crazy circumstance tied all of these people together in this one community. It’s about the people who may not have the most power, but because of who they are they are able to be part of a greater good. My goal and hope is that the audience will go out and honor their inner Puff, and say, ‘Yes! I, too, am a Hufflepuff!’”

---

View Photos from 泡芙

看 The Mask Project

---