High School Musical!

 

transformation: the performing arts

Wow!

what a tour de force this upper school musical was!

as long as I have been at Carolina Friends School,

theater has been a prime way

for the individual to shine,

both in individual contributions,

and in what individuals together in a group

can accomplish collectively,

for then community is built,

the first plays at CFS were created

within whatever common spaces the school allowed,

or outside with the glory of space

and the limitations of minimal technology,

then we built a common space, the "Center,"

where the floor was great for dance,

the acoustics challenging, and the seating minimal,

in every venue greatness was created,

for the will worked hard to find the way,

the students at the center of it all, and amazing,

finally, a Performing Arts Center was laboriously planned,

and, for the first time, monies borrowed to enable the building,

this afternoon I joyed in what our high school created and presented,

High School Musical,

a vehicle for near 40% of their unit to let their lights shine:

on the stage, in technical creation and expression,

in the support of the vision in costume, in lighting,

in choreography, in the singing, in the music,

it is not the fabulous directors alone,

or the brilliance of the actors alone,

that created two hours of wonder upon the stage,

it was every hand, every heart,

that lifted the whole into knowing itself,

and expressing itself for the audience who completed the circuit,

the musical lived upon the stage,

once again the performing arts centered us,

and we are all better for such a transformation.

by Henry H. Walker

April 18, ‘26