What’s new, and what’s coming up, in the Arts.

This past week:

 

• The Balladeers and Buttondowns participated in the Hersheypark Music in the Parks Festival competition on April 27, where their talent and hard work earned them a “Superior” rating.

 

• The Balladeers presented “Night of Noise,” an atmosphere of coffee house style evening of performances in the Attic Theatre. 

 

• The student led Cabaret also took place in the Attic Theatre, featuring dazzling performances and crowd pleasing songs.

 

• The Balladeers and Buttondowns gave a wonderful performance at the 50th reunion luncheon at Beinecke House.

 

• In Dramatic Arts, the Drama Department took home several awards from their trip to the Bucks County Theater Festival on April 24.
  • “The experience was a ton of fun, we got to learn how to be better performers while also performing Into the Woods and Steel Magnolias with each other one last time. It was definitely a special experience that I will never forget,” says Lauren Poprik ’24. “Steel Magnolias is such a beautiful show, the acting needs to be authentic and believable for the message to come across, and so we prioritized that in rehearsals. It means a lot that the judges recognized and awarded us for it as well.”

 

• And Mykah Weckesser '25 shares her thoughts on the experience:
  • “At Bucks County, the cast of Into The Woods performed a shortened cut of our show for a panel of judges, alongside the senior drama class performing a cut of their show, “Steel Magnolias,” and two other schools.I always get a little nervous before performances, but spaces like Bucks County are always so welcoming. Even though it is technically a competition, everyone is there for the same reason; we all love drama. Every student and teacher had worked hard for months on their performance(s) and this was another opportunity to share—both with the audience, and for each other. For the Pingry students, this was our last chance to perform our shows, but it was also our last chance to perform with the seniors. I had so much fun at Bucks County, but it was a very bittersweet experience. I'm a lifer at Pingry, and I've known some of the seniors for 12 years now. We've been doing shows together since I was in third grade, and drama programs at Pingry have truly been my favorite part of going to school here. On a happier side of things, we all took workshops in the morning before the performances. I did an improv class and a monologue workshop, taught by professionals with years of experience, and who also happened to be our judges. In the improv class, everyone spent almost the entire time talking and getting to know each other, which made watching everyone perform later in the day so much more entertaining. I enjoy almost every show I watch, but there's really nothing better than watching one put on by your friends. Multiple Pingry students won awards, including Saniya Kamat ’24, Sylvia Ardon ’25, Dami Shote ’24, and the entire Steel Magnolias cast. While I'm forever going to miss Into the Woods—who have now joined the ranks of Urinetown and Spring Awakening in my memory—I can confidently say that we went out with a bang.”

 

 

Coming up:

 

• The Middle School Musical is coming up! Tech will be on May 11, and the show is set for May 16-18

 

• Celebrate the wonderful creativity and relentless pursuit of excellence found in the arts with the upcoming Arts Awards dinner on May 22.

 

 

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Contact: Sara Courtney, Communications Writer