Hanna Tian ‘23
In the midst of this unprecedented pandemic, schools have had to rethink practices that were once standard and the way EA approaches art and theater this year is no exception. “It’s made us really rethink how we deliver information and how we connect with kids, but I think it ended up in a good way,” explains David Sigel, Head of the Art Department. “The results allowed us to be really reflective in our practices, and to really boil it down to what is important.” Classroom communication had to be reevaluated, for example, as providing feedback over Zoom is a far cry from in-person interaction.
Individual classes were directly impacted by COVID as well. In Woodshop, power tools have been prohibited in order to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. As a result of this, the Foundations of Arts students are taking an alternative route to complete their final project boxes. “We use CAD (computer-aided design) programs to understand three-dimensional form, and so the material changed from wood to what we could find,” illustrates Sigel. This became an opportunity to take objects often overlooked or discarded and turn them into something new of their making.
“We are, again, being reflective during this year and having to be creative in how we respond to the limitations. In the arts, we never get bogged down in what is often seen as a limitation, but an opportunity to come up with an alternative and creative solution to the problem,” explains Sigel. This semester’s gallery may virtually feature artists from around the globe, giving the EA community insight on art from all over the world.
This semester’s art gallery is not the only event that is going virtual. Plans for the fall productions are continuing through the virus, albeit in a slightly modified manner. “We are doing the Upper School play as a virtual show – so we’re videoing things, mostly on Zoom, but some things in person,” explains Kelly Leight-Bertucci, the Technical Director of the play and GYLI Advisor. “And for the Middle School, they are actually creating their own show. They’re writing their own play, and we are filming them and editing them together to create a show.”
The Upper School play this year is She Kills Monsters; originally written as a live performance, the playwright rewrote it to fit a virtual setting. “We are going to record it via Zoom and in person, but then we are going to edit it all together to create the entire script and story,” describes Leight-Bertucci. “We have some technicians who are doing animations, who are designing backdrops, who are gonna add special effects, and so we are learning how to do all of that and learning how to edit,” Leight-Bertucci explains. The virtual show is currently set to premiere in November.
As for later productions, plans for the spring musical have yet to be made. Students are hopeful for a socially distant, in-person musical. The situation is similar for the dance concert. “The dance team may look a little different this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do dance. We’re looking at how we can creatively reinvent what we normally do in creating our dance concert, and we can’t necessarily say whether it’s in person or virtual,” describes Leight-Bertucci. Although only time can tell how these performances will play out, the Theater and Dance Department is determined for the show to go on.