perfor ming a rt s Take 10! Play Festival Take 10! is North Shore Country Day School’s annual studentwritten, designed and directed 10-minute play festival. Students in the Upper School directing course spend about a month writing 10-minute plays based on personal experiences, observations, media events or just pure creativity. They then take on the role of producer and director by auditioning their peers, creating a concept, blocking their actors and watching everything fall into place along the way. Technical Theater students are paired with the directors to design the sets, lights and sound, bringing the director’s vision to life. This year, six plays premiered with about 40 students involved in this festival. T H E S E C R E T : By Izzy Cho ’20 Synopsis: Today is Nathaniel’s twenty-second birthday! Although he seems perfectly normal on the outside, Nathaniel carries an emotional burden that he is reluctant to share with anyone. Although his parents’ dream has always been for him to take over the family business, he wants to become a dancer. After a series of unlucky events, Nathaniel’s parents discover this dream that their son has been concealing for so long. The Secret is the story of their path to reconciliation, and an examination of the often complex relationships present between a parent and a child. M A S K S : By Alex Carrigan ’20 Synopsis: A sophomore at Peterson High, Beatrice Connelly faces problems with her friend, Mikayla, as Beatrice constantly feels that she can’t be herself due to Mikayla’s controlling attitude. As she tries to confront Mikayla, Beatrice finds out Mikayla’s true nature and struggles with what to do. Seeing this stress, Beatrice’s English and homeroom teacher, Mrs. Royler, makes her come to a slam poetry group she created with another struggling student, Mitchell Preston, to see if poetry will help her release her feelings and be herself. Will Beatrice show the world her true colors through her words? Or will she remain under the grip of Mikayla’s controlling attitude? Find out in Masks. W E D O N ’ T D O T H AT H E R E : By Carlo Castellanos ’18
Synopsis: One day a hardworking employee is called in by her boss about a rule violation. At the same time, another employee comes in for a different rule violation. The manager works out some unreasonable punishments for both employees at the same time, and it creates tension between those involved. T H E L U N C H D AT E : By Morgan Small ’19 Synopsis: While originally intended to be a fun lunch outing, this two-week-anniversary celebration goes awry when Sasha, the strict new boss shows up to lunch. Sasha’s new work policies say that co-workers are not allowed to date, so Ethan and David must keep their relationship a secret. While the couple slip up a few times and risk being outed, their friend continues to step in, in efforts to save the lunch, and ultimately their relationship. I K N O W A G U Y : By Tom Pratt ’18
Synopsis: The once prosperous small magnet store Magnet Mania is now on the brink of bankruptcy after the appearance of a Magnet Mart across the street. If they don’t find a way to scrounge up $30,000, and fast, they’re done for. In this moment of desperation, an employee calls in a corporate big shot to help them get back on track. Greeted with skepticism from some and gratitude from others, he nonetheless helps them achieve a surprising turnaround.
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ZARA LEARNS TO RUN UNDER PRESSURE:
By Emmy Cho ’20 Synopsis: What is the meaning of life? Does it have something to do with Queen’s song, Under Pressure? Thirteen-year-old Zara is still not quite sure. As soon as his mother realizes that Zara has been failing all of his classes (including advisory), she quickly prohibits him from having any “fun,” and signs him up for spring track. It is an utter nightmare for our protagonist. Zara must brave the torturous hours of running, high-knees, pushups and other track exercises. To add to the misery, he continues with middle school and classes, having arguments with his one-time crush, Patty Benington. But it’s not all bad. Zara meets a friend, Dan, the boy who currently holds the record for the school mile with an astounding four minute and forty seconds. As the track season progresses, Zara finds himself becoming stronger, faster, and most surprisingly, happier. By the end, Zara has uncovered a part of himself that’s been buried over the past few years and he’s ready to run.
Middle School Spring Performing Arts Festival The North Shore Country Day Middle School Performing Arts Festival is an opportunity to showcase the work of the Middle School acting, dance, technical theater, visual art and instrumental ensemble classes. The festival is a celebration of the process and the journey that each of these classes has taken through the second semester, culminating in a visual art display and evening performance. The acting and technical theater classes presented the play Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit by Jonathan Rand. In the fairy-tale criminal justice system, the characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes are represented by two separate yet equally ridiculous groups: the fairy-tale police who investigate fairy-tale crime, and the fairy-tale district attorneys who prosecute the fairy-tale offenders. After the play, students performed a selection of hip-hop, jazz and musical theater dances. And during transitions, instrumental ensemble members delighted the audience with flute, viola, violin and piano solos. In conjunction with the performance, Life/Boat, an exhibition of artworks created by Middle School students individually and together, in a diversity of disciplines and materials, was on display in the Science Center Atrium. The art show featured large-scale collaborative models of a yacht, a lifeboat and La Amistad, a 19th century slave ship and site of an iconic slave revolt.
Chorus and Instrumental Ensemble Concerts The chorus and instrumental ensembles from all three divisions celebrated the hard work they put in this year during two separate concerts, held a week apart. The Upper School concert was held on April 26. The Lower and Middle School concert was held on May 3. Both concerts highlighted the tremendous progress the students made in just one short school year.