Students Shine in Academy Performance

Details

Created on Wednesday, 31 October 2012 16:02

Written by Katelyn Zenie

ST.JOHNSBURY - Students and parents gathered the jam-packed St. Johnsbury Academy Black Box theater last night to see the show put on by all three of the academy's performance classes.  

Every student had an equal opportunity to showcase their talents due to the use of interchangeable masks.

Students exchanged masks and therefor played different character rolls in each scene so that there was not one star performer. The playbill was made up of acts from the Sophacles's ancient Athenian tragedy Oedipus Rex, a series of 9 short plays by John Cariani called Almost Mine, and finally a tragic comedy by Beth Henley called Crimes Of The Heart.

A parent of one of the actresses, Melanie Ilsley, says she is glad her daughter is getting a chance to do what she loves to to. "Well, they don't only give you a chance to act... they also give you a foundation of how acting began, where it came from, and it gives you the experience," said Ilsley.  "I mean, these kids all had a chance to be part of the production tonight. Um nobody was the star, everybody had a chance to be an important part of it" she says.

The professor of the class, Janet Warner-Asley, introduces her cast prior to the performance, letting the audience know that everybody in the class is a star. Warner Ashley holds degrees in theater at the University of Rhode Island and the University of Maine and has studied and taught theater and dance for many years, as well as working as a professional mime.

St. Johnsbury Academy has extensive programs in the arts including acting, Celtic arts, dance, music, and theatre.