The Show Must Go On!

CFS Eighth-Graders Virtually Performed A Special Adaptation of Baltimore

Kirsten Greenidge, Obie Award-Winning Playwright, CFS Alumna ’88, and Parent ’21 and ‘23

Photo credit: Katia Nigro

Jen Salvucci Bent, CFS Drama Teacher

CFS eighth-grade drama students had the privilege of working with Kirsten Greenidge, Obie award-winning playwright, CFS Alumna ’88, and Parent ’21 and ‘23, on a special adaptation of Baltimore. Under the direction of Jen Salvucci Bent, CFS drama teacher, the cast learned to adapt to numerous setbacks and deliver an extraordinary online performance. I had the opportunity to speak with Kirsten and Jen throughout the process, and found that their leadership and insight made for a truly remarkable and memorable experience for all!

By: Diane Marangoly, Director of Development and Communication

Kirsten Greenidge, Obie Award-winning Boston playwright (Luck of the Irish, Milk Like Sugar, and Our Daughters, Like Pillars), specially adapted her 2015 play, Baltimore, for the eighth-grade drama program in school year 2019-2020. The original play was a Big Ten commission to address the problem of gender parity in B.F.A. programs in the U.S. from the University of Iowa. Baltimore is about a college Resident Advisor who encounters a racial incident in her dorm and is neither able to deal with it nor has the language to properly address it and the aftermath.

In the summer of 2019, Jen Salvucci Bent, CFS drama teacher, began putting plans in place for the eighth-grade drama program. Thinking about the students in the class, that she and Kirsten had spoken about potentially working together, the School’s mission, and wanting to work on a more challenging piece, Baltimore just seemed like the right choice. Originally intended to be a conversation about race at the college level, Kirsten adapted the play to retain the same dialogue and changed it to take place in a boarding high school. In speaking about this initial endeavor Jen remarked, “A play of this magnitude now adapted to be age-appropriate for our middle-schoolers is tremendous. In my eighteen years of teaching drama, I have never done anything like this.”

When introducing the play to the eighth-grade class, Jen had students read excerpts from the original play and talk about why Kirsten wrote it and its importance. Later, students had the privilege of meeting with Kirsten. She spoke with them about life as a playwright, listened to their experiences, and what they felt they were going through – a practice she used with students at Boston University and the University of Maryland when creating the original script. “Whenever I do a rewrite, it’s an opportunity to update the script and make it relevant to the time we are living in… I asked students what was important to them based on what I knew the play was going to be about and knowing that I wanted their voices in there. But, I’m also the playwright, so I need to sculpt the play and make sure it says what I want it to say, while sounding as though it is going to come out these particular characters’ mouths,” Kirsten indicated. The goal of her initial meeting with the eighth-graders was to make sure the adaptation included topics that would resonate with the students while acknowledging that characters had to be taken away and material removed from the original script to make it suitable for the eighth-grade class.

When considering the content of the play, Jen and Kirsten both knew that the students were very familiar with such dialogue. The School’s mission and social justice curriculum, including affinity groups like Becoming White Allies or Middle School Kids of Color had aptly prepared them for this. On the other hand, more background work was required for character creation as students had to learn to think and portray how a person would feel based on their attributes and what they were going through in the play, in addition to the conversation that was happening in the play. Characters were created for each student that explored an alternative, culturally diverse personality (not necessarily representative of themselves) which also required more intense training.

Students rehearse in-person, prior to state mandated school closures.

Rehearsals for the production took place in two 45-minute sessions each week during the school year. At first, it was all about blocking and looking at the set, then having students move through the space to make it as realistic as possible. The next step was reviewing the actual storyline and connecting with the language and perspective of the characters, building upon drama classes from previous years. Kirsten had attended some rehearsals to see the progress, stating, “I think it’s wonderful that we have the opportunities to have eighth-graders learn those (drama and empathy) skills in fifth grade, have them develop in sixth and seventh grade, get to exercise them at this level in eighth grade, and then see it work in a play that grapples with these really tough themes… It’s not just the play, but the conversations around the play that you get to see these children engage with that is really amazing.”

Screen captures of the Class of 2020 during their virtual performance in May.

Of course, all of this changed when school closures were mandated due to COVID-19. Swiftly pivoting to remote rehearsals, students continued to gather two times a week for their 45-minute online classes. Though the uncertainty of whether there would be an in-person performance loomed for weeks, Jen decided with her students that the show would go on and used the time to continue to rehearse and build character relationships while exploring some acting for the camera. It was clear that students were invested in the show, and just wanted to perform it –regardless of formatting. Once the news was final that schools would be closed for the remainder of the year, she and Kirsten had a lengthy email exchange on how to bring the performance online. Kirsten had recently transitioned a play to online at Boston University, and offered her expertise on technical items in Zoom such as renaming performers to appear as the character’s name, turning off cameras, and using the whiteboard – a very important element of the show. Reflecting on the students’ transition to online, Kirsten stated, “The eighth-grade and Jen were figuring out the technology at a time when even people in our field - people doing this for decades - were having a hard time figuring it out. Some of the questions they were asking were high level, sophisticated questions that the theater industry was grappling with. I was watching in real time the class figure it out and really apply themselves to this process and that was commendable.”

Facebook posts from Kirsten reflecting on Baltimore.

The students had the opportunity to perform online on May 19, 2020. Reflecting on the performance, Kirsten noted, “There was something about listening to the impact of these really hurtful actions and words influencing these individuals and being able to see their faces on screen that really impacted me, and I could see it impacted my family in very strong ways… A key takeaway is that the play ends, but it is an invitation for further conversation.” Baltimore provided a platform for deeper dialogue in the CFS community that was unimaginably timely with the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial disparities exposed by the pandemic.

To view highlights of the online performance, visit: www.cambridgefriendsschool.org/Baltimore.