Each year, the seventh and eighth-grade classes produce an all-class play. It has been a tradition since the earliest years of Friends School. This year, AfterCare Director, Eliza, and Music Teacher, Bethany worked with students on Alice in Wonderland. Here are a few thoughts from Bethany's first year working on an FSP play!
What made Alice in Wonderland a great play to perform for FSP students?
Bethany: I have spent so much bonus time with these delightful students this term! Alice in Wonderland was the gift that kept on giving. This particular play offers so many opportunities for students to flex their imagination and creative skills. From costume conception to set painting, throne building, prop creation, poster design, and makeup. These remarkable students brought so many different modalities of visual art expression to the table.
Sometimes the energy goes into the script, this year the script was more of a jumping-off point. The characters were well-known. The script was episodic. We had different groups of students working on pieces at the same time. We had props in one room, rehearsal in another. Tea party rehearsal, flowers rehearsing, tweedle dee and tweedle dumb in another.
The play is a big community lift. What did that look like this year?
Bethany: What makes this special at FSP is the group lift, our bench in creativity is so deep here. Students designed costumes and then Spanish Teacher, Dareth, took their designs and built costumes. Art Teacher, Yasamin, Enrollment Director, Megan, and Spanish Teacher, Dareth helped with the caterpillar and Kindergarten Assistant, Robin, made the mushrooms. Preschool Assistant, Jonathan, helped with the sets. And lights were done by FSP parent Sean Mewshaw. Thank you!”
What shows have you worked on before outside of FSP? And what was it like to work on your first play at FSP this year?
Bethany: I’ve been involved with directing full-length high school shows in Michigan and Broadway Junior Musicals in Illinois for middle school students. I’ve worked with seventh-grade students on Shakespeare too. This year, it was Eliza’s first time as director, and it was such a treat. It was such a joy to bounce ideas off one another and have one of the most truly collaborative experiences I’ve had in theater.
This was the first play you’ve been involved with at a Quaker school. Was there anything that stood out to you as different?
Bethany: This was the first Quaker school show that I’ve been involved in. It was interesting to me how some decisions get made by a director and others are made collaboratively. This year, it stood out to me that we made props that were fun, economic, simple, and environmentally responsible. It just speaks to the values of simplicity that are a part of FSP.
Anything else that stood out to you?
Bethany: When rehearsing, students were able to think about their audience. They would be in character and ask one another “What is going to make Isaac laugh?” and “What will make Simon smile?” Students thought about their younger buddies in preschool and how they would react as audience members. Or another example is the students who were acting out the main character Alice. They began with “Alice is 10. Who do I know that is 10 years old? Rya, she’s 10! What would Rya be like in this situation?” It is a real treat to see older students relating to younger students in these ways!
