Spotlight on the Middle School Fall Play

The Middle School After School Drama Elective will be presenting "The Trumpet of the Swan" in November and the students are hard at work staging, designing, creating and learning many theater skills that can be used during the performance process.  The following information has been submitted by our Grade 8 Student Officers who are members of the International Thespian Society (ITS) in the Rashi Middle School Theater Program. 

As we get ready for our Fall show, we’d like to share a little bit about how we’ve been preparing for it in the tech booth. The lighting system is mostly up and running again as it was taken down at the end of last year for lighting maintenance. We’ve been working to arrange it in a way that is comfortable for the technicians in the Tech Booth to be able to program the lights for the show. We’ve also been gathering and designing the sound cues, and we’re getting ready to program them into the soundboard. 
Ari I - ITS President - Class of '24

In the Rashi Theater, the set designers have been hard at work. In the past weeks, we have created and tackled our first design challenge, which was to create the red rocks for "Red Rock Lake," the home of the swans. With the help of Abbie, we worked to form an idea of what we wanted to build, then started to form it with various materials and tools. We also had to build a raised platform for actors to stand on. The tech team worked together with impact drivers to create a platform and add legs so it could stand. The next step with the platform was to paint it. We learned how to properly paint sets with texture and got the platform looking very nice. There will be more upcoming set pieces to design and build. With the help of our amazing Technical Director, Abbie, we will have a glorious show to present. 

Levi L. - ITS Vice President - Class of '24

  Aviv N. - Rashi Festival Coordinator - Class of '24

At Rashi, MS Drama is offered After School and you work with Bonny the Stage Director. You can come in once or twice a week for acting, but those who come in twice a week are more likely to get a bigger part. An eighth grade actor said, “Theater is like one big chaotic family. There are the new kids, and the experienced eighth graders.” A sixth grade actor said, “It’s really awesome to be able to do something like this, because although we take it seriously, we also have an opportunity to make new friends.” The theater program at Rashi is interesting, because everyone gets a chance to act, or work behind the scenes, but when you act, you become so close with the other actors, and you can form lifelong friendships. 
Chloe P. - ITS Trip and Alumni Coordinator - Class of '24

For the past few months, the actors have been working vigorously to put on a show for the Rashi community. This year the Middle School students and a couple of Grade 5 students are performing "The Trumpet of the Swan." This year there is a smaller number of students in Drama, but despite that our group of actors have been stronger than ever. We recently finished blocking, or staging, Act One of our play and we are currently working on blocking Act Two as well as helping tech with projects. The amazing thing about our small cast and crew is that we are all like a family. For example if some cast members are not in a scene they immediately ask a crew member if they could help. A grade 6 student this year said "I love drama because of the “close and loving community.”
Davey G. - ITS secretary, Class of '24

As you can see from the testimonials of our Grade 8 officers they are off to a great start in the performance process. Both the cast and crew work together in warm-ups and acting exercises as the students will have an opportunity later in the year to be in a different show. The progression of these skills help them to become confident actors and designers and strong leaders in the program.

Submitted by Bonny and the Grade 8 ITS Officers