Our Studio Players productions are collaborative theatre arts projects shared with our entire community. In Studio Players, students explore and develop their skills in the wide scope of the dramatic arts. They perform original and adapted works.
The writing of an original play is an opportunity for the Middle School students to explore issues of maturing in adolescence, and their experiences in the world. From writing, acting and singing, to designing and producing, the students integrate the sophisticated ideas into a story for all ages.
Our Studio Players productions are collaborative theatre arts projects shared with our entire community. In Studio Players, students explore and develop their skills in the wide scope of the dramatic arts. They perform original and adapted works.
After two years of putting on shows virtually, we returned in person, to The Studio Players Theatre for our 16th original production, Surface Tension. The title was inspired by the moment right before a bubble bursts - the pressure is mounting and what’s inside has to fight to reveal itself.
As we began writing the script this year, the writers had the idea of crafting a mystery, a show that would keep the audience on its toes. As we talked and talked, the students kept coming back to the topic of memories. We questioned how one’s memories are shaped, and grappled with what it would be like if we couldn’t remember the experiences that have impacted us. Then an idea emerged: what if our mystery’s main character was a detective, who had access to every person’s memories in the town. He could help with simple dilemmas, like where someone lost their keys, but also support individuals struggling through dark times by reminding them of the joy and love they’ve experienced. Yet what the audience soon realizes is the burden this gift has become for the Memory Keeper, as he feels everything from the memories he carries.
Our Studio Players productions are collaborative theatre arts projects shared with our entire community. In Studio Players, students explore and develop their skills in the wide scope of the dramatic arts. They perform original and adapted works.
The writing of an original play is an opportunity for the Middle School students to explore issues of maturing in adolescence, and their experiences in the world. From writing, acting and singing, to designing and producing, the students integrate the sophisticated ideas into a story for all ages.
When Drew, an adolescent boy from their small town, disappears, the Memory Keeper is called in to help explore the memories of everyone he had interacted with. Yet as the investigation unfolds, more and more questions arise, exposing the tensions that live above and beneath the surface of this community.
Surface Tension, was a unique reflection on being an adolescent in current times. How do we make sense of the experiences we have lived through? How do we accept all the feelings that live inside ourselves? This essential journey, as we saw through the Memory Keeper’s experience, reminds us how hard it is to grow up and be fully human.
Our 15th Annual Studio Players production was a transformative experience for our middle school students, as they reflected on what they have endured over the past fifteen months, how they’ve each grown, and who and what they truly cherish in life.
Over many weeks, the playwrights Zoomed together from different cohorts, developing three original storylines, conveying life throughout the pandemic, and the timely topics of injustice, political, and social upheaval. It emerged that while the experiences may have been unique to each group, the emotions felt throughout this year have been universal. Physically separated but working together, the students in each cohort designed their sets, props and costumes, story-boarded and filmed each scene, bringing the script to life. The students hope that their final piece, capturing their feelings and fears, allow you, their audience, to connect to yourself and each other.
Students are introduced to the art of puppetry as a form of story telling and learn about shadow puppets, hand puppets, rod puppets, and marionettes. They work in small groups to adapt or write a story into a script, design their backdrop and puppets, and choreograph staging to bring the tale to life.
Take a look at last year's puppet show, Winter Tales:
Three puppet shows adapted from winter stories, including The Winter Picnic, a beloved picture book written by our co-founder, Robert Welber, and illustrated by Deborah Ray.
Tales of the Moon, 2017
Three puppet shows adapted from favorite children’s stories, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch, and Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
The Central Park Capers, 2014
An original story, written and inspired by the creation of paper-mache puppets made by the Eights and Nines. Friendship in Central Park emerged after completion after the puppets, and thus a play was born!
