If you didn't catch the Park Players Fall Production of CLUE, you surely missed out! The drama students have shown an incredible interest and progression in their performing arts lessons throughout the years, and it certainly showed on stage! Performing Arts Teacher and Play Director Maria Jacobi has done a marvelous job contributing to the program and personally connecting with the students. This year's Park Players fall performance of CLUE was a huge success! What efforts were put into place to lead to the success? We started rehearsing mid-September. Everyone was supportive of one another and took the show very seriously from the start. We also had many students from CLUE that were in our Theater Production elective class which helped with making posters, organizing costumes, and rehearsing lines. Mrs. Polaske met with many students after school working on the set and props and ensured backstage all ran smoothly. We also had Chris Ciechoski, Director of Innovation & Technology, managing the 3D printer helping students with prop construction. The performers were able to stay in character so well on stage, even when improvisation was needed! What do you teach our students and how do you practice these techniques to lead them to be the best performers they can be? We spent a lot of time on character preparation where each student creates a detailed background for their assigned character. They take as much evidence as they can from the text and use their imagination to fill in the missing pieces. We then move into the physicality of their character so that students can become their character through movement and gestures. There are so many layers of preparation to playing a character. My favorite quote from Stella Adler is "acting is reacting." In order to be able to react with the truth of your character - you need to first have a deep understanding of them and how they would engage with other characters on stage in various settings. A good test is being able to do an improv scene as your character with a new given circumstance - once someone feels comfortable doing that, they really are living their character! What other performances and classes do you have in mind for the future? I am thrilled to have our Theater Elective class participating in the NY Thespian Society Festival this year. We have such amazing talent here in performance, crew and design; I want them to have every opportunity to share their work and be celebrated. I am also excited for the expansion of our program to include the Lower School - Bethany Ward, Kyle Polaske, and I work closely together to offer as many performance opportunities as we can across all grade levels. Maria adds, "I am so appreciative of the support the arts program receives from the Park community; it would not be possible to do what we do without it. I hope you will join us for one of our upcoming shows, most notably the schoolwide musical in March, The Wizard of Oz!" [Park's Spring Musical Production, The Wizard of Oz, will run from March 14-17.] :: :: :: The performing arts community at Park would not be complete without a variety of PreK-12 music classes including band, chorus, music history and theory, and more! Bethany Ward is our Vocal Music Teacher and Choir Director. She has vocal directed Park’s musicals since 2018 and vocal directed In Good Company Productions musicals since 2014. Bethany also sings in one of Buffalo's top choirs, Vocalis! Jerrold Miraglia has been an instrumental music teacher at Park since November 2017. His responsibilities include Grades 4 through 12 instrumental music lessons, Middle and Upper School bands, and teaching the recorder to Grade 3. Since coming to Park, he has created the Pioneers of Jazz, the Middle School Band, the Middle School Jazz Ensemble, and Grade 3 recorder class. As our PreK-Grade 12 music and choir/ vocals teacher, how do you see students advance as they go through your classes year to year? What similarities and differences do you see between age groups? Bethany: One of my favorite aspects of working at Park is teaching students from PreK all the way up through Grade 12. It is extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to teach the same students year after year, witness their growth, and help them build their confidence in performing. Across grade levels, I notice that Park vocal students are enthusiastic and engaged. Students take ownership of the course content and feel comfortable expressing their ideas and suggestions, which makes our lessons and performances a collaborative effort between teacher and students. Maria Jacobi, Bethany Ward, and Jerry Miraglia Take Performing Arts at Park to the Next Level 13
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