Arts
Fourth-graders bring the past to life with "Conversations with Artists"
Madison Darrah brought the internationally acclaimed artist Picasso to life for her fellow students as well as parents and the staff at Coastal Ridge Elementary School during last week's special productions of "Conversations with Artists" on Thursday, May 18. The production featured the entire fourth-grade.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
It was literally a cast of dozens as the entire fourth-grade class at Coastal Ridge Elementary School joined together in the gymnasium to present the original musical "Conversations with Artists," directed by music teacher Karen Littlefield and art teacher Mary Zane. Zane wrote the play, which was interspersed with an array of popular tunes from across the decades, as musicians and artists from the past century came to life on stage.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
The entire Coastal Ridge fourth grade took part in the production of "Conversations with Artists," an original play written by art teacher Mary Zane.
The play was directed by Zane and music teacher Karen Littlefield, who incorporated tunes from the distant past and from recent memory to give these young musicians and performers a chance to shine.
On Thursday, May 18, the students performed the musical twice - once for the entire Coastal Ridge community in the afternoon, and a second time in the evening for family, friends and community members.
For those who watched the play, including Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione and Coastal Ridge Principal Jane Stephenson, it was an event to remember.
"It was wonderful," Scipione said after the end of the play, which received resounding applause from the students and staff who attended the afternoon show.
The five-scene play included multi-media presentations, music and monologues with tunes as diverse as "Rock Around the Clock" and selections from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
"These boys and girls have worked so amazingly hard," Littlefield said at the production's end, thanking the cast of characters and musicians from the fourth grade, as well as the many school and community members who volunteered to help with costumes, programs, props, sign language and slide presentations for the production.
Stephenson said the production was inspiring, and praised Zane's creativity in writing the script and both Zane and Littlefield for their tireless efforts to work with the students to bring a full-scale production - complete with chorus, scenery and props - to the Coastal Ridge gymnasium stage.
While students in all eight fourth-grade classroom comprised the chorus for each of the songs, 26 students had speaking roles in the play and dressed for success as artists, musicians, narrators and event Picasso's sculptures from his Blue, Rose, Cubistic and Abstract periods.
Those performers included Alisha Tousignant, Maddie Patten, Drew Binger, Ian MacFarlane, Sean Gill, Kiyana Hutchins, Hannah Olsen, Andrew Bowden, Madison Darrah, Connor Arsenault, Maddie Dignam, Presley Trimble, Michael Mazur, Nicole White, Madeline Leroux, Todd Brockelman, Kyle Peterson, Taylor Simpson, Hailey Morse, Kelley Francis, Samantha Ferland, Cheyenne Simas, Sean Kelley, Sarah Tennant, Monte Kozmits and Hunter McKay.
The performance ended with the entire cast singing the Diane Warren song "Because You Loved Me," accompanied by Littlefield, while several students signed the words under the tutelage of local parent and sign language instructor Lynette Olsen.
Scipione summed up the sentiment expressed by so many who attended the production last week.
"It was wonderful," he said.
For more on what is happening in the York Schools, visit www.yorkschools.org.
