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Arts Extravaganza Headlines Big EHS Weekend

The arts took the spotlight at EHS this past weekend, with events on the Pendleton Hall stage and in Ainslie Arts Center highlighting the work of dozens of students.
“Seussical!,” this year’s winter musical, drew big crowds to its four performances over three days. The 20 actors in the cast and 12 members of the tech crew put on a delightful show drawing on the stories of Dr. Seuss and childhood favorites such as the Cat in the Hat, Horton the elephant, and the Who families of Whoville.

“We have a really tight group of kids this year who have worked their way through the theater department,” said Michael Windsor, the show’s director and the arts assistant at EHS. “Seussical! allowed us to showcase that talent, which is great.”

While many of the students had read Dr. Seuss books growing up, Windsor said they took their character study seriously, re-reading the books and seeing how the stories had been interpreted on television and in movies like “The Grinch.” 

“It was fun because they had a character from literature to research and consider as they made the role their own,” he added.  

Aesthetically, the show featured a brightly colored jungle gym and swings as well as cameos by a drone and jump trampolines. One of the biggest technical hurdles for the tech crew: a giant plastic slide designed to be anchored deep into the ground. Instead, the group welded together metal supports that could be bolted to the stage floor.

See photos from the show on our Flickr page.

Next door in the Ainslie Arts Center, the Angie Newman Johnson Gallery hosted a reception for the exhibition of some 200 pieces of student art from the fall and early spring. Advanced students showcased work they created with an eye to pursuing art studies in college, while others displayed the best of their growing portfolios. Among the surprises for the reception crowd: temporary tattoos designed by students in digital-graphics classes.

The exhibition included paintings, drawings, photography, ceramic pieces, digital graphic art, and videos. In some instances, students gathered their photographs or pieces together to create a single large work. 

Art instructors helped to install the exhibition. “We gave the students work the same treatment as we would a professional’s art,” says Liz Vorlicek, a ceramics teacher and director of the gallery. “When students see their work outside the studio, it can inspire them.”

On Wednesday, after seated dinner, advisories will have dessert in the gallery, see their classmates’ work, and perhaps consider what they, too, could create. Says Vorlicek: “It might entice students to say, ‘‘Look what they get to do. I don't consider myself to be an artist, but I’d like to try that.’”

See photos of the gallery and student artwork on our Flickr page.
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