Photo courtesy of episcopalacademy.org
The arts don’t die loudly—they die from indifference. EA just let the Cappies program go.
Cappies is a theater and journalism program that celebrates high school productions. Critics review shows at participating local high schools, which previously included one of EA’s productions. At the end of the season, critics and actors alike come together for the awards season at the Cappies Gala, which honors technical aspects, critic reviews, and actor performances.
The Domino Board cut Cappies because of overall low student interest. That is, at the award-show Gala, while other schools fervently cheer for their peers in crowds of fifty plus, our lowly EA section had featured less than ten students, as the event often overlapped with Prom or interfered with May Term. But even outside of the Gala, those involved with theater seemed only to tolerate the program and our nominations. Even those EA students who had the opportunity to participate after being nominated often did not attend.
I feel the loss especially, having been at the helm last year when leading EA’s team of six critics. I watched heartfelt but low-funded performances; I saw kids who were bound for Broadway; I made friends with the other Critics at each show. And most of all, I loved writing the shows’ reviews. With each show, I learned just how lucky EA was in terms of our resources, but also what we could still improve upon in our theater department. Indeed, our nominations and awards answered another helpful question: how do outside viewers perceive our abilities?
The theater program is now completely insular regarding outside recognition. But Cappies isn’t the first thing at EA to be met with a shrug. A year ago, Open Mic nights drew an audience of barely fifteen when they used to garner over sixty. It’s not that anyone hated the event. Rather, they simply didn’t care enough to come.
Broadly speaking, the arts are often the first target when schools are faced with budget cuts, or when autocrats rise in fragile democracies. And yet, Episcopal loses critical aspects of the arts from the bottom-up. In our nauseating schedule, students are forced to pick between extracurriculars, and that choice is often related to college admissions. At the same time, we live in an era where young people are afraid of being perceived. At every waking moment, your most embarrassing moments could be recorded, and your worst failure documented. As a result, arts events and programs fall by the wayside.
So what does make students show up in the arts? A good example is EA’s own spring musical. Families, younger students, alumni, and friends all come to support the cast and crew. The event is participatory in nature, low-stakes, and if you are involved yourself, it counts as for your sports requirement. It’s a joy to watch the talent present on stage. While advertised on Instagram, no one has to be coerced into watching the production. The show makes it easy to celebrate the arts. Buy a ticket to support someone you love, or, if you are interested in theater, you can join the cast and crew and complete an extracurricular requirement.
Cappies and Open Mics are different events in their entirety, but the musical demonstrates that EA students show up when it’s low-stakes, not a large time commitment, and largely tied to people they know. In contrast, Cappies made it an inconvenience to be involved—not only does it require a large time commitment, no one wants to go to an event that very few appear to care about.
After all, the price of community is inconvenience. EA students are given the resources to bolster any event, program, or club we want. We were lucky to have the Cappies program. We still have theater production, Open Mic nights, and other rooms waiting to be filled—you just have to show up.