News Detail
Performing Arts Roundup
Students in the performing arts have treated their peers to a series of exceptional performances in recent weeks, with the Theatre Company Showcase on December 8, and concerts by the Choir and Senior Instrumental group on December 15.
For the Theatre Company Showcase, students in Theatre Company 11 and 12 got into groups and picked a scene from a play, then broke it down, analyzed it and workshopped it until it was ready to perform. “It lets me get to know them as performers, and it’s an audition for the drama production in the spring,” theatre teacher Mr. Sal Interlandi explained.
Four groups performed scenes in the Showcase: Charlie G. and Gabriel B. (Lone Star by James McLure), Talia S. and Sorath R. (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard),
Aava N. and Reo T. (Fight Over Fuchsia by Lindsay Price), and DJ B., Pascal G and Bailey S. (The Philadelphia by David Ives).
A week later, the four groups took their scenes to the STAR Festival in Victoria, held at the University of Victoria’s Phoenix Theatre, with eight other schools participating. Each of the four Shawnigan scenes qualified for the national competition, which will be held at Douglas College in Vancouver in April. Under the STAR Festival rules, no props or sets were allowed, and scenes had to be cut off at five minutes, but neither of those restrictions got in the way of the Shawnigan groups’ success.
The Choir and Senior Instrumental group put on a pair of successful Christmas concerts on December 15. The instrumental group performed a combination of classical pieces by Gustav Holst and Edward Elgar, popular pieces by Simon & Garfunkel, and a Christmas piece called “The Christmas Waltz.” The choir performed a Norwegian tune called “Eatnemen Vuelie” that was featured in the Disney film Frozen, as well as “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” featuring Amy Xu on the electric organ, and the traditional carol “O Come All Ye Faithful.” The junior rock band also performed a pair of Christmas songs: Wham’s “Last Christmas,” and “Run Rudolph Run,” in the style of the Foo Fighters. The junior rock band had previously performed a well-received show at the Stag Café on November 17.
Both the choir and the senior instrumental group performed some of their Christmas tunes at the Carol Service on Wednesday night as well.
In related performing arts news, tickets are on sale for the School musical, Grease, at the McPherson Theatre in Victoria on February 8-10. Final preparations are well underway, and the cast and crew will have just five weeks to put the finishing touches on the show when they return from Winter Break. Click here to purchase tickets.
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Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
