Arts News

Bravo to the Cast and Crew of Private Peaceful NCTC STATE CHAMPS

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE award-winning Upper School OneAct Play Private Peaceful for winning the North Carolina Theater Conference (NCTC) state competition! Country Day’s production has won the state competition five years in a row!

The company was awarded:

• Distinguished Play

• Daniel Seaman Outstanding Achievement in Ensemble Acting

• Outstanding Achievement in Acting: Jack Cooper, $100,000 in scholarship offers

• Outstanding Achievement in Design and Production for Stage Management: Abby Wood, $100,000 in scholarship offers

• Excellence in Acting: Magdeline Fraser

• John W. Parker Award for Excellence in Directing: Jenny Goodfellow

At the NCTC regional competition, Private Peaceful was awarded:

• Distinguished Play

• Excellence in Choreography

• Outstanding Ensemble

• Excellence in Acting: Magdeline Fraser

• Excellence in Stage Management: Abby Wood

• Excellence in Directing: Jenny Goodfellow

They will take their talents to the Southeast competition in the spring.

Learning Through Failure

Longtime Lower School art teacher Kandise Hayes explains how a simple lesson helps develop grit and perseverance in her students: “Second-grade students created ‘Delicious Designs’ by using lines and shapes to produce three-dimensional forms to ‘trick the eye.’ Embracing their mistakes by unlocking new ways of working their art, I reminded them that learning from failure brings the sweetness of life to fruition. As our artists worked, we shared this American painter’s words. “The nerve of failure I think is paramount. Learning by mistakes, modifying, reconstituting, reorganizing.”

—Wayne Thiebaud, American painter

FROZEN KIDS IMPRESSES

In December, the fourth grade presented Frozen Kids. It was by all accounts an impressive production with wonderful acting, singing, and choreography. Lower School drama teachers Krista Maggart and Kate Bankston continue to bring out the very best in our students. As Head of Lower School Bill Mulcahy wrote in an e-mail to parents, “One of the joys of working with students is seeing them grow up over the years, and the play was a wonderful reminder of how much our students have grown during their Lower School years, while still maintaining their youthful joy and enthusiasm.”

Middle School Gets Creative with Mask Making

Thanks to our Artists in Residence Program, our seventh- and eighthgrade drama students had the unique and exciting opportunity to collaborate with Donovan Zimmerman, the artistic director of Paperhand Puppet Intervention, a renowned puppetry and mask theater company based in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Supported by the Parents’ Association, the Artists in Residence Program brings outside artists to campus to teach and share their craft and work directly with our students and faculty. Since 2011, Middle School students have either worked with or benefited from local, national, and international artists visiting campus.

Over the course of a few days, our students delved into the world of puppet and mask-building techniques under Mr. Zimmerman’s expert guidance. “This unique experience allowed our students to gain valuable insights and skills in this captivating art form of puppetry,” explained Aaron Mize, Middle School drama teacher. “This partnership has enriched our drama program, fostering creativity and expanding our students’ horizons in the world of theatrical arts.”