Culture

Teaching in the arts

Joining the community with future plans of becoming a professional actress, Glorioso chose a different career path when she fell in love with teaching instead.

Marion Glorioso is going to be an actress.

After college, she’ll do some drama work to qualify for an actor’s union, then she’s going onto the big stage.

This was her vision 16 years ago when she graduated from college.

In those 16 years, she’s done one thing: teach.

And how pivotal these 16 years of her life have been.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor of fine arts in musical theater, Fine Arts Department Chair Marion Glorioso joined the school as a Lower School drama instructor in 2004. Her plan was to build the “equity” necessary to later become a union actor and perform as a professional actress.

“Jacque Gavin, who was the [Fine Arts] department chair, knew me because she was dear friends with my aunt,” Glorioso said. “So Jacque had seen my work and seen me run different children’s theater camps. When the Lower School drama position opened up, she contacted my aunt and asked, ‘Would Marion be interested in doing this?’ Of course, my aunt called me and said, ‘I think you should apply for this job. It’s an amazing school. It’s in Dallas. You can work at the Theater Center. You can work at Theater Three. There are all these great theaters in Dallas.’”

Hoping to continue working as an actress while teaching, Glorioso applied and got the job. However, even after she had the qualifications necessary to move on with her career as a union actress, she decided to stay and teach at the school.

“I was surrounded by people in the Fine Arts Department who were extremely passionate about what they were doing, and I had students that were eager and willing to do whatever it was that I asked of them,” Glorioso said. “So I asked myself the question, ‘Am I going to be any more fulfilled in my artistic endeavors? Am I going to be any happier if it’s just me out there performing and doing gig work, going from one show to the next? Or am I satisfied here at St. Mark’s?’”

As a young woman at an early stage of her professional career, Glorioso needed to make some decisions regarding her future. Being a teacher at the school played a vital role in the decisions leading up to her current place in life.

“There was some shift for me where I was asking ‘What is my goal now? What is my dream now?’” Glorioso said. “I think St. Mark’s helped to shape some of that. I fell in love with the St. Mark’s Lower School students, and there was just so much care that they gave to what we were doing on stage that I really started thinking about having kids and if I wanted to be a mom. I think being around some of the St. Mark’s boys helped me to see that there was that part of my life that I really wanted to explore.”

Former drama instructor Rod Blaydes invited Glorioso to work on the Upper School drama productions. This transition opened up the scope of her teaching to include Upper School students as she also took on other work outside of teaching.

“I made the decision around that time to

Words from colleagues

Former Lower School art instructor Alice Oltrogge:

“She stepped into her job as the drama teacher as though she had been doing it for years. It was apparent that she knew her subject and was very able to make it exciting for her students. One thing that struck me immediately was how eager she was to learn teaching techniques. She applied – with great success – every tip that was given to her by her St. Mark’s colleagues.” go get my master’s [degree] at [Southern Methodist University],” Glorioso said. “I started working on my master’s and BRIGHT LIGHTS Glorioso has taught in both the Lower School drama classroom directing here. In about and the Black Box Theater, ranging from students in Lower, Middle and Upper 2015, [former drama School. Through this, her role has changed to the Fine Arts Department Chair. instructor] Rod Blaydes Being the Fine Arts Department head decided he was going to retire, so I started entails a lot of new work, including overseeing working solely with the Upper School and all travel occuring for debate tournaments, film teaching some Middle School classes. Then festivals and other events. we hired somebody to take over in the Lower “I look at all scheduling and staffing School, so I became the Upper School drama for the department — how many sections of teacher and director.” certain subjects we’re going to have, if there is additional curriculum we want to add,” Over the course of her career, Glorioso has Glorioso said. “For example, this year as directed a variety of plays, each one leaving her we went through the new daily schedule, it with unique memories. changed the way that we offered some of our

“One of the first shows that I directed was fine arts classes in Middle School. I oversee the a show called ‘The Physicist,’” Glorioso said. development of the curriculum for any new “It was a relatively small cast of people, and I courses and oversee the implementation of became really close to those guys during that existing curriculum in current courses.” time. There’ve been a lot of funny stories over the years – there’ve been a lot of challenging As the only female department head in the stories over the years. Every show makes a Upper School, Glorioso strives to give a strong mark.” representation of female leadership to the

After the tornado prevented students from solely-male student body. coming to campus last October, Glorioso had “When you’re a female teacher at St. to make adjustments to her plans to be able to Mark’s, you’re the only woman in the produce the fall play, “1776.” And then when classroom,” Glorioso said. “So there’s a great the COVID-19 pandemic forced students off deal of responsibility that comes with that. I campus again in March, Glorioso was forced to want to represent the kind of woman that I am, call off the spring play. which is somebody who is creative, positive and nurturing, and I am also somebody that I’ve got three children of my knows what I want and sets high expectations. Learning to do that in a way that doesn’t own, so I also look at all of the demand attention, but earns the respect of one’s boys that I teach and know that attention, I think that is my approach.” they are someone’s son and to care for the boys that I teach Glorioso feels a responsibility to portray her role in a realistic fashion to the students. “I also know that as a woman on campus, as their mothers would care for I represent what a professional female in a them. leadership role looks like to our students,”

Marion Glorioso, Fine Arts Department Chair Glorioso said. “One day, you guys will have women around you on a day-to-day basis,

“I was devastated when it became obvious colleagues, bosses, wives, children, women, and that we were not coming back on to campus I want to help you learn how to communicate last spring,” Glorioso said. “There was a group in those relationships, navigate the female point of senior boys, some of whom I’ve worked with of view and be sensitive to sexual inequality.” since they were in Lower School. Theo Katsulos Looking ahead, Glorioso has a variety of [’20], Will Mallick [’20], Thomas Loose [’20] ideas for the direction of her Department. One and William Gonzales [’20] — these boys that I main goal is cross-divisional collaboration have known since they were in first grade. We between classes in the Fine Arts Department were set to do this show, and when I realized and with other departments. it was not going to happen, having to tell them “While I love the autonomy that we have that the show is canceled — and they had within our programs,” Glorioso said, “I’m already been rehearsing for several weeks — looking for opportunities for things to be crossthat was really hard and disappointing. I’m sad divisional within the Fine Arts Department that they did not get to have that final theater as well as outside of the department. Art and experience, and I’m sad I didn’t get to have it science are so interrelated and so integrated. with them.” When we look at the art of filmmaking, so

After Gavin decided to step down from her much of that is storytelling and artistic and role as the Fine Arts Department head, Glorioso the visual perspective, but it’s also all of the took the job. engineering and the science that goes into

“It’s a lot of work,” Glorioso said. “In [computer-generated imagery], that goes into a normal year, you spend a lot of evenings stop motion. I’d love to see St. Mark’s go into attending concerts and performances. The fine the 21st century of combining some of these arts program is grades one through 12. There tools that we have at our fingertips with the are 15 faculty members that produce a lot of Makerspace or with the planetarium.” theater, produce a lot of concerts. We produce recitals and have Evensong and things with the STORY Will Pechersky, Axel Icazbalceta choir. So it’s a very big department.” PHOTO Owen Simon

Former drama instructor Jacque Gavin:

“Mrs. Glorioso has always been a supportive colleague, an innovative teacher, and a ‘We can do that’ kind of person. That attitude and spirit has been invaluable over the years, never more so than in the strange times we have experienced in the past year. From the tornado through COVID-19, she hasn’t lost her positive attitude or her ability to make lemonade out of lemons.”

Arnold E. Holtberg Master Teaching Chair Scott Hunt:

“What has been impressive to see over the years is how Marion has gone from Lower School teacher to Upper School teacher, advisor and now, department chair. Through that, she’s gained tremendous perspective of how our department works and what all of the various programs do at each division.”

19 Culture

Literature

The decision-making that goes into the books students read. Page 20

Language

Looking into teachers capable of teaching more than one language. Page 21

Competition

Preparing for an international student competition. Page 22

In brief

LITERARY FESTIVAL The 14th Literary Festival will be held virtually Jan. 14-15 this upcoming year, the first time the studentlead and student-organized event will have ever been held online. Founded by Jake McAuley ‘08 in 2007, the Festival showcases a variety of writers, from authors to poets, who attend Marksmen English classes and a panel discussion with the entire Upper School to discuss their passion for writing and judge a writing competition. Guests for the Festival have not yet been chosen, and the contest deadline for submissions, which include poetry, fiction and nonfiction, is tomorrow. Leaders for the Festival include Victor F. White Master Teaching Chair in English David Brown, Director of the Literary Festival junior Henry Schechter, and Co-Chairs junior Alex Geng and junior Ekansh Tambe. Notable former guests include Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, bestselling author of “This Boy’s Life” and “Old School” Tobias Wolff, and Vietnam War marine veteran and author of “Matterhorn” Karl Marlantes.

DEBATE TOURNAMENT Austin Dunbar and Akul Mittal, as well as Noah Cathey and Ahsan Tahirkheli, were named cochampions of the rookie division alongside another MBA team at the Marist Debate Tournament. Seven teams won at least four of their five debates and ended the first round with winning records, and five of those moved onto the elimination round. Overall, 40 students competed. The tournament took place Sept. 25-26.

STUDENT BOOK Freshman Arnav Lahoti published a selfwritten fiction book entitled “Vishnu Reborn” August 16. The book is available both digitally and in paperback on Amazon.com. “Vishnu Reborn” takes place in the modern day, with the gods and villains of Hindu stories coming to life and influencing the book’s narrative. The book follows the journey of Gopal, a boy who embarks on a quest to save the world from evil after learning that the god Vishnu is residing in his body.

ENGLISH BOOKS To read or not to read With no district-mandated reading curriculum, English instructors select books for each class. But from Shakespeare to short stories, how are these selections made?

20

Culture

October 29, 2020

BOOKED Each year, the English Department conducts a thorough review of its reading curriculum. Book by book, all teachers in the department add and subtract text until they reach final decision. But in a world with myriad poems, novels and short stories among other forms of writing, what tips the scales in favor of one piece of literature over another?

Every August, Marksmen open up a number of class meetings and thus the importance of American and English big, cardboard box. And it’s filled. number of possible reading assignments,” writers, he says there was more emphasis Favorites With books. Morris said, “but we compensate in class. on international texts earlier in his tenure. We caught up with some English teachers, asking

In half the box, one math textbook, Senior semester courses will introduce “You can’t ignore American writers them what their favorite one history text, one foreign language workbook. An ample supply of books to many new texts.” As for earlier courses in a Marksman’s or English writers,” he said, “but it’s a question of what to include. There was a pieces to teach are. From novels to plays to essays, here’s what they said.get a student started in his classes. studies, Morris says books are tailored to real push for [the multicultural idea] in the

Except for English. age groups and course objectives, but the 90s, but it came and went.” Trustee Master Teaching Chair

Stacked in the other half of the box are department has specific goals with the in Humanities Lynne Schwartz Crime and Punishment five, seven, ten novels — more paperback than hardback — all incorporated into the origins of its texts. “We tend to focus on Western To remain with our heads in the sand, just reading “It’s a Russian novel, and English curriculum for that year. literature,” Morris said, “but we do traditional works, is not going not many But how does that stack of novels — as Marksmen carefully pick each one out, look to other cultures for diversity. [The department leans] toward classics, but to lead us to a better place of understanding for more people. students have read Russian laying them out on their beds — end up in the box? What is it about those books that there’s a strong interest in multicultural, diverse texts — at least one required Curtis Smith, former English teacher writing. It is a great opportunity make the cut? Why aren’t different books for each grade level — nonfiction and This multicultural idea Smith alluded to introduce students to one — new or old — added to the annual edition of “the box”? How does the English Department contemporary work.” Former English teacher Curtis Smith, to transcends the inclusion of international texts, though. Smith says there can be more diversity within American and of the great writers that they haven’t gotten to know before. The book generates great discussion and deep thinking choose the books Marksmen read? who retired in May 2020, has fond English novels as well. in the classroom.” According to English Department Chair memories of novels he taught during his time at the school, particularly the “How do you not read Shakespeare?” asked Smith. “How do you not read English teacher Geoffrey Stanbury Michael Morris, there’s a number of steps “diverse texts” Morris has mandated Faulkner? How do you not read Steinbeck? A Midsummer Night’s Dream to take and criteria to meet before a book across the department. Smith remembers But the argument being made more often “I love is integrated into a curriculum, namely a course early in his career featuring is that there are more contributors to the teaching this “grade-level discussion [and] department novels all over the world, including the American culture besides white males. because of the endless chair approval.” Caribbean, Egypt and Afghanistan. Women are coming to the forefront. Native depths to However, Morris says teachers in his department have “considerable liberty” “They were all with the attempt to have a strong sense of place and a strong Americans, Hispanics, African Americans. There are plenty, especially now.” which you can plumb each play in selecting novels sense of what it means to live in a different Summer protests on his mind, Smith for jokes, meaning and the Michael Morris English Department chair for their individual classes as long as they “augment core, common culture,” Smith said. “The literature books came from all over in this particular class. I thoroughly enjoyed things like that.” However, in his latter years, Smith said Americans — not just Marksmen — should look to books as a way to unify. Through a more diverse palette of texts, Smith believes people will depth of character. I also love doing the performance based reading, getting my students up on their feet and figuring out how scenes should look when staged.”texts.” That says he found himself teaching novels better understand each other, improving being said, the from an exclusive selection of locations. themselves and the world. Malcom K. and Minda Brachman department and teachers are open to student input. “If you put a map in front of you,” Smith said, “and I gave you some pins “It’s not just a St. Mark’s problem,” Smith said. “It’s an American problem. We Master Teaching Chair Martin Stegemoeller “Compensation”

“Teachers value student feedback,” — little pushpins — and I asked you to need to read more about the contributions “[Emerson’s Morris said, “We want to offer texts that put where your stories have been from, of other people. This summer in particular, essay] meant are meaningful and compelling. Our focus they’re either going to be North American with George Floyd and the Black Lives a lot to me is appreciating versus just liking.” or European. Those pins I’ve theoretically Matter movement, we have to understand because it taught me

In this effort to have students asked you to put are mainly in just one our divided nation. We have to reach out that I have appreciate their English works, Morris expects the new schedule implemented quadrant of the world, the northwest. So if you call yourself an educated man, it’s and tamp down our fear. One way is to choose the right books.” one life to create something worthy of my existence. My life will be meaningful this year to afford opportunities — such as hard to say that if you haven’t read some if I do the caring, skillful, new courses featuring new books. “The new schedule reduces the histories and literature from other places.” Although Smith acknowledges the STORY Siddhartha Sinha, Eric Yoo PHOTO Evan Lai creative work, but it won’t be meaningful if I don’t.”

Senior, sophomore team up and earn two selections in national high school film festival by Myles Lowenberg the actors wanted to act in terms of But the most challenging location to what could be.”

Senior Sarbik Saha and sophomore emotional appeal and relating it to set up may have been a house where Each film presented its own Sal Hussain collaborated on the story, while Sal focused on where much of the film took place. challenges when he made them. “Paradise” and “My Greatest Critic,” they were placed.” “We went to this empty house, “Every film has its own unique both of which received selections for Saha knew there was potential and there was no furniture or process,” Hussain said. “The hardest the 2020 All-American High School in his work with Hussain when he anything,” Saha said. “I brought all part is understanding the story and Film Festival. made “My Greatest Critic.” my furniture, and you could see it figuring out how I’m going to get

“Paradise” features the “After ‘Paradise,’ I was not turn into an actual set.” this point across.” imagination of a boy trying to escape, satisfied,” Saha said. “Sal and I both The process of editing the films Overall, Hussain thought the films and “My Greatest Critic” is about agreed that we could do a lot better, was key for Hussain. were fine, but he is now looking an intimidating piano concert with so when I was writing the screenplay “I’d say [my most memorable towards the future. a twist. Saha wrote the screenplays, for the next one, I knew this had to experience was] sitting down and “[The films] could have been while Hussain did the camerawork be a really good story, especially with editing and watching it all come better,” Hussain said. “That’s part of and editing. what Sal could do with his camera.” together because when you’re on set, the process, it’s only my second short

“Sal was in our film class last year, To film the piano concert, the you have this idea, but you realize film. Hopefully I can only go up from and I wrote a couple screenplays pivotal scene in “My Greatest Critic,” when you’re editing, things change there. I try to always hold myself to and wanted him to shoot them,” during the current pandemic, Saha really quickly,” Hussain said. “It’s a reachable, but higher standard, so Saha said. “I would work with how and Hussain went to a recital hall. about adapting and sacrificing for I’m not complacent.”