The LiTTLe M er M aidjr.

Dozens of Sixth through Eighth Grade students dove ‘under the sea’ this winter to participate in this year’s Middle School musical, The Little Mermaid, Jr.,— a production imbued with “green” themes of sustainability and conservation. After almost four months of preparation and rehearsal, these climate-conscious, ‘fin-tastic’ performers debuted their production with four shows between February 28 and March 3.

The first two shows, hosted as student-only matinees, took place during the school day to allow Calvert children of all ages to enjoy this timeless tale of undersea adventure. Later, more than 480 friends, parents, and family members registered to attend one of the evening performances on March 2 or 3, effectively selling out both shows.

Following the mermaid Ariel, her friends Sebastian, Scuttle, and Flounder, and their adventures above and below the sea, The Little Mermaid, Jr. is adapted from the 1989 Disney film of the same name. Also starring King Triton and the sea witch Ursula, the show follows Ariel’s attempts to live on land with her true love, Prince Eric, and the ominous agreement she signs to make it happen.

Now robbed of her most distinct feature her voice Ariel must navigate her changing world to find her true home: underwater Atlantica or the surface world.

With so much of the show taking place in nature particularly the ocean students and teachers made it a priority to present a sustainable, minimal-waste production that spoke to the surface world’s very real effects on underwater ecosystems. Forrest Monaghan ’23, who portrayed Prince Eric, connected the show to lessons he learned during a leadership journey with going green with the Institute for Leadership & Purpose earlier this year.

“On the Bahamas trip, we learned about nature and animals through exploring the mangroves and coral reefs and seeing how the animals and plants interact with the environment and how what humans are doing to the environment affects their lives in negative ways,” he said.

Guided by drama teacher Alexis Tantau, director Isabel Cooke ’12, and faculty members Hannah Palmatary, Katie Leonard, Gregory Bretiere, and Owen Rossi, the cast and crew incorporated several recyclable materials into their set design, costumes, and more. The sets, for example, came to life with recycled tabs from aluminum cans, bottle caps, and scraps of fabric and paper, including an issue of National Geographic Magazine that contained commentary on plastic in the ocean.

Knowing that on-demand “fast fashion” can also quickly use wasteful amounts of water and other materials, the costume team also took great care to reduce their ecological impact by looking for alternative sources of clothes.

“When we think about costumes, cloth and clothing can be a big drainer of water. The more clothes made with plastic, the more wasteful fast fashion and clothing can be,” Ms. Palmatary shared with students. “So, how we combated that for The Little Mermaid, Jr. is by acquiring costume pieces from a rental set that can be recycled in school after school. We also went shopping at some local thrift stores and found some really cool pieces.”

Finally, when it was time to take the stage, the students suited up to tackle their respective roles. To encourage more students to participate, eight roles were double cast, giving everyone the opportunity to land a main role.

Throughout the show’s run, Claire Seligson ’23 and Bianca Polito ’23 appeared as Ariel opposite Julius Paige ’23 and Forrest Monaghan ’23 as Prince Eric and Sarah Naser ’23 and Julianne Dawn ’23 as Ursula. Accompanying them were Jaylen Jones ’25 and Katherine Yang ’25 as Ariel’s friend Flounder, Evan Lauer ’24 and Olivia Desai ’24 as the seabird Scuttle, and Jameson Exinor ’23 and Carson Owens ’23 as royal advisor Sebastian. Rounding out the dual-cast roles were Maggie Renner ’25 and Finley Alworth ’23 as Flotsam and Saoirse Shah-Fricke ’25 and Lane Allen ’23 as Jetsam, Ursula’s dastardly eels, while more than two dozen students joined the ensemble as Ariel’s sisters, friendly sea creatures, and more.

Behind the scenes, nearly 20 members of the stage crew were invaluable when making props, assisting with costumes, painting and constructing scenery, managing sound and lighting, and moving set pieces. A small front-of-house team also worked to promote the show through posters and advertising, including conducting the quoted interviews, as well as handling seating and program distribution at each performance.

“There are so many different people who contribute so many different things to the show,” Charlotte Harris ’24 shared with the front-of-house team. "So I think it’s been a really great and unique experience.”