Category: Arts & Entertainment

By: Annabel Dobash ’23

Wyoming Seminary’s fall musical has long been a campus tradition, but Covid 19 hampered large scale productions for two years. Now, their mainstage production is back in full swing. This year, the company performed Bright Star; a Tony Nominated musical based on true events.

The musical tells the story of Alice Murphy, an editor in Nashville as she meets a young soldier who is seeking success in writing and discovers family ties. It was co-written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell who penned the bluegrass score.

Sem’s production featured Ainsley Eidam ‘23 as Alice Murphy, Liam Phillips-McGraw ‘23 as Jimmy Ray Dobbs, Michael Vodzak ‘24 as Billy Cane, Holly Egbert ‘23 as Margo Crawford,  David Getz ‘24 as Daddy Murphy, and Olivia Stevens ‘23 as Mama Murphy. 

The set included an elaborate moving house that was built by Floyd Bussie, the technical director. Working with the house was the high point of David Getz’s ‘24 rehearsal process.

Auditions took place on September 8th and the cast list was released on September 11th. Official rehearsals began on September 13th. Since then, the cast of over 30 people has been hard at work learning blocking, choreography, and music. 

Last year the rehearsal process was six months long, but this year it was shortened to three months. Eidam describes the short rehearsal process as “crazy, we went from the second day of school to the fourth of November rehearsing and then the show goes up. It’s much shorter, so we have so much more to pack into it, and it’s been a lot stricter.” Despite the limited time, Eidam says that “I find that music [rehearsals]are so inspiring and uplifting, it’s the highlight of my day.”

The cast entered tech rehearsals on October 29th where they met everyday from one to six pm. Bright Star opened., November 4th and ran through Sunday November 6th. Getz is looking forward to “hearing the reactions at the end of act one, I think it will definitely be interesting, but also the opening because I don’t think it will be what a lot of people are expecting it to be.”

by Abby Kim ’23

Wyoming Seminary is planning on having several student art exhibits for the 2022-2023 academic year. In recent years, covid has affected Sem’s ability to show student art. With a normal school year in swing, Sem plans on displaying more throughout the year with at least three exhibits per term in the KCCA gallery. 

The most recent past exhibit consisted of students’ color theory assignments. Each piece played with overlapping colors to create a painting that shows value (the color’s intensity) and hue (the relativity to the main colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet). Mr. Webber, an art teacher at Sem, says, ”it has to do with the processes that students and artists use to employ color contrast”. Most of the art in the color theory exhibit was from Wyoming Seminary’s highest art course, AP Studio, which Webber teaches. The course focuses on advanced drawing and design skills. Other courses like Ms. Ayer’s, an art teacher at Sem, drawing and design, ceramics, and Webber’s Advanced Drawing will also be showcasing artwork in the near future. 

The next art show planned to follow the color theory exhibit consists of self portraits. Student pieces will be in several mediums including charcoal, pencil, and oil paint. Compared to the color theory exhibit, this exhibit is more so about the creative interpretation of the artist. Webber says, “the self portrait show is by its nature more light-hearted and playful”. The exhibit is also upper school wide, including works from grades 9-12.  

Webber and Ayers, for the remainder of the year, plan on supplying very creative and original exhibits. Webber says, “I try to have a large variety of exhibits”, so we can expect a wide range of themes. Being back in person helps connect the wide variety of themes to the Sem community. Webber is “very excited to have in person exhibits again”. He says “the role of the gallery is varied and there are times when we’re trying to communicate with the outside world”. With everyone back on campus it is much easier to do so. 

Sem artists also greatly benefit from the school’s ability to provide in person exhibits. Cat Ziegler ‘23 says “it is great to be fully back in the studio”. Cat, along with several other students, currently has a color theory piece up in the KCCA. Cat says “the process of the color theory piece was challenging, but also fun. I gained a better understanding of contrast and color, and I am glad that this year allows us to show our challenging work in person”. So with in person school fully back, the Sem community can expect a lot of promising work in the KCCA this year.

by Erica Zhu ’23

Although this year, we were forced to roll back theater performances from the Fall/Winter terms to the Winter/Spring terms, our theater department was in no way ready to let COVID close out the shows for good. What many students love about the acting workshops, though, is that even if musicals and theater and everything in between isn’t a strong suit, they can still make an appearance and show off hidden talents. Described as an “acting recital” where actors train to be better presenters and performers, this year’s Spring Acting Workshop featured nineteen one-act plays and scenes in the Buckingham Performing Arts Center(BPAC) from April 27th to May 1st. 

Everyone involved gave it their all– there was certainly never a lack of prop, costume, or spirit. Directed by our beloved Jason Sherry, Ellen Sherry, and Floyd Bussie, the show went off without a hitch.

“Seeing our Sem stages come alive again with performers filled my soul this year! We had a wonderful run of Footloose and our beloved Acting Workshop featuring so many students on our stages and behind the scenes! The class of 2022 was a big part of the theater department. We are excited for their new paths, but will miss them greatly!” Ellen Sherry, Master of Costumes and Director explained. 

Perhaps the most bittersweet is that of the parting of this year’s graduates who, together, are the faces of both a little over half of our theater department and workshop: Kieran Sherry, Jake Ruderman, Nathaniel Stavish, Lily Qiu, Evan Swartz, Rhianna Lewis, Gram Doherty, Julia Poole, Sophia Galante, Cassidy Rhodes-Aniska, Daniel Irwin, Hayoung Kim, Emily Chen, Ariana Marien, Ian Poole, Jennifer Zemetro, Dominica Delayo, Gigi Ruggiero, and Marshal Curtis will all be setting off for new adventures. Their legacy of acting and smiles, along with words of advice, will never leave us.

“Spring/Winter Workshop is one of the most fun, and rewarding parts of my years at Sem. The Spring Workshop provides a smaller and less intimidating theatre experience for anyone who may be nervous to start acting. You can do anywhere from 1 to 5 scenes, and each one is so different. I was in two scenes, Go to the Light, where I was an overworked facebook obsessed 30 year old, and in a completely different scene I had to restart a conversation every time a bell was rang. If you want to act, but are too nervous to do the Musical, do the workshop. I can guarantee you that it will be so, so fun,” said Julia Poole ‘22

Every evening was filled with the laughter of students and parents who saw familiar faces, in addition to visiting alumni. From the comedy in Citizen Kane(by Kids in the Hall) and The Philadelphia(byDavid Ives), to even the cute, sweet Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(by Charlie Kaufman)and When Harry Met Sally(by Nora Ephron), there was truly something for everyone who loves seeing or being in the theater.