Sanford and Northeast Middle School Students Triumph Over Obstacles to Shine in Spring Musicals!
May 24, 2022
Magical Tales
For the first time since the pandemic began, our middle school musicals were back in action this spring. On March 4th and 5th, 84 Sanford students brought the classic Beauty & the Beast Jr. production to life on stage. March 30th and 31st, 54 students pioneered the first ever Northeast Middle School and PS musical experience with the comedic production of Shrek Jr.
In both musicals, students had the opportunity to perform or be behind-the-scenes for eight weeks, acting, dancing, and singing with professional local artists, and working with high quality sound, sets, lighting and costumes. A first, for many of them.
Navigating Magic
This musical season came with a unique set of challenges and sheer determination to ensure the ‘show must go on!’ From school buildings closed due to COVID outbreaks and students in distance learning in January to the MPS 2022 teacher strike in March, students experienced rehearsals in many different forms — from their computer screens at home, or for Northeast Middle School in particular, at the Project Success office, with no actual stage in sight. During this process, our middle schoolers cultivated new performance skills such as dancing and singing, curating friendships, fostering community, and learning storytelling, as well as identifying with the themes and characters they were performing. Students at Sanford even had the opportunity to craft props and create masks in after school classes through Sanford’s Community Ed program, in collaboration with Project Success.
No matter the location or space, Project Success was thrilled to spend time with our students and to take steps to ensure a fun-filled and engaging production would indeed take place for our students. Which, of course, it did!
On top of changes to physical locations, each school had double casting for lead roles in case either student actor came down with COVID and would miss a performance, a first, among many, for Project Success and the musicals team. However, everyone thankfully persevered to the day of the shows.
Reflecting the unique set of circumstances this year, a Northeast Middle School parent had this to say,
“THANK YOU to PS for its unbelievable commitment to Northeast Middle School’s production of SHREK. My son is a 7th grader there, and it has been a doozy of a year. The fact that Miranda, Katie, and the rest of your team managed to drive it to production, despite all the obstacles, feels like a Christmas Miracle. It will be very emotional for us, as parents, to gather tomorrow night for this performance. Our kids deserve this win. THANK YOU for giving it to them.”
This spring, students learned that a musical can be rehearsed and held wherever there’s creativity and community! And at Project Success, there’s a place for everyone to participate. In both schools, there was strong support from staff and artists, but also from students to each other.
Northeast middle school musical cast member, Pharaoh, had this to say about his Project Success experience, “It was amazing! I had so much fun with the cast and it was a great experience in acting, thank you for all your hard work too staff!”
Meet Our Northeast Musical Cast Members!
@projectsuccessorg Meet some of the cast from the Northeast’s Middle School’s #Shrek Jr #Musical who sang and added joy to our 2022 Dreams to Action Breakfast!