Director’s Note

“Is There Life After High School” is a memory musical. Based on the book by Ralph Keyes, the musical uses songs and monologues to recall the joys, terrors, envies, hates, and loves that most teenagers experience throughout their four years of high school. When I found this show, I knew it was the perfect show for this unique moment we are living through. As I began this year, I did not know if a musical was possible. Honestly, I don’t know if I wanted to even direct a show when the year started. Like so many in our community and our school, the mental health implications of the pandemic were profound. We all experienced loss in one way or another, from moderate to profound, and so many of us found ourselves sad, returning to a different world, different interactions, and different experiences.
 

Yet, as I sat around stewing in my own malaise, my return to school brought a major reality check. No matter how I felt, what was more important was how our students felt. While we are all experiencing loss, for our students, they are missing milestones that can never be recreated. I knew in that moment that if we could save this years production, a milestone and escape for so many of our students, especially our seniors, we had an obligation to make it happen.

“Is There Life After High School” became the perfect vehicle to bring our students together. With no core cast of characters, the story allows for every student to have a voice and participate in one way or another.  And, that has been the biggest learning experience for me. As I began this journey, in true director’s fashion, I over prepared. It became quickly evident, however, that this was not my story; this is the community’s story. It became evident to me that those who gathered to create this story had their own vision in mind. As this experience unraveled, I found myself listening to the students and changing the vision to fit their ideas. I found myself listening to my fellow creative’s, throwing out what I had planned to hear and create their visions. I found myself reaching out to parents, asking them to create content. I found myself turning over certain moments to students, both past and present, allowing students to direct these stories instead of me. This is why I say, this is not my story. This is not a traditional musical. This does not belong to one person. What this is is a piece of art created by the community for the community.

As I said, this project was not directed by me. As the schedule began to realize itself, I knew I could not carry this project on my own. I reached out to alumni from the past decade. Using Flipgrid, cast members submitted their recorded monologues and alumni began commenting, critiquing and directing. What I saw exceeded my expectations. Again, I wanted this to be a community event, and this really helped to connect the students in a very special way. Students were now working with students who went through our program and have moved on to college and beyond, and I was in awe to see my current students learn and grow with the help of our school alumni.

At the heart of this is community. On April 15th, we will gather as a cast during one of our school asynchronous days to lay down a majority of thecontent. Rather than micromanage and direct, I have asked the students to form pods. They are teaming with friends they feel comfortable with and who are part of their COVID pods. Together, they will use iPads to film each other performing the monologues. This was one of those places where I had to get off my spot. I was so determined to “direct” them, that I began to work against the community I was trying to create. Really, my job as a director will begin after the 15th, when I will direct in the traditional sense, using the student generated material to influence my choices. We also plan to use our iPads to film the dance on the 15th, another element that will be edited into our project. The remainder of content has been generated by parents and students working together and a few planned Zoom scenes (they are scenes staged for Zoom, and not scenes forced into Zoom). Will this all work? I don’t think that matters. I trust in the end we will produce something great, but it is the unexpected community I have discovered and cultivated that is the real “extravaganza.”

This project, a "volunteer project," is exactly that. At the end of March a local reporter posted in a New York Theatre Facebook Group how saddened he was to see so many high school shows cancelled and the New York high school regional theatre awards sent out an email cancelling this years awards because there are few to no shows. To know we as a “Is There Life After High School?” team could give these students a special moment and a memory of a lifetime is beyond, and to now be on the other side of some of the most significant hurdles is amazing. This has been a year like no other, but in our connection we find our way back to each other and to our sense of community. I don’t know what future years will hold, or if I will be there to helm whatever is created, but what I know is this year we saved a moment for our students that so many students around the world lost.  And, more importantly, we did it together. As you hopefully join us for our performance, I hope you see beyond the musical and see the memories that we created that will hopefully last a life time.

About The Department

The Arts Department of New Rochelle High School is an expansive program that integrates Visual Art, Media Arts, Music, Dance and Theater Arts, and also provides an impressive Performing and Visual Arts Education Program (PAVE), which enables students to major in the Arts. As the largest department of its kind in Westchester County, the NRHS Arts Department encourages students to appreciate this multicultural environment and to bring their own unique cultural perspective to their work. In addition, the department emphasizes differentiated instruction, in order to address the diverse learning needs of all students without compromising the essential knowledge and skills students are expected to learn. We are a forward looking department: Our Arts wing houses a dance studio, music rooms, computer graphics lab, and specialty art rooms including sculpture and ceramic studios, a kiln room, and a photography studio equipped with a dark room. We take pride in the fact that many of our talented teachers are exhibiting artists and practicing performers, who are devoted, life-long learners. They encourage our students to exhibit work in our Museum ofArts and Culture, as well as to participate in public shows and to perform regularly in our theater productions.


Check Out Our Site