The Seniors of Community Ensemble Theatre

The seniors of CET reflect on their time as part of the tight-knit community.

BY HANNAH RUBENSTEIN

Evers Baskey: “In 8th grade, I came to see CET’s production of ‘Disaster.’ I was blown away, and loved the performance. Seeing the incredible set and amazing performance overall, I knew I wanted to join CET freshman year. I have many great memories with CET. One that stands out to me is during ‘School of Rock.’ It was the week before tech week, and we were trying to get the wall flat up on the proscenium. However, it just kept wanting to fall over. We decided to try to screw it into the floor, which was going well until one of the screws became so completely stripped that it was stuck. We absolutely could not get the screw out, which was a problem because we realized that we had built a section of the wall flat wrong and needed to take part of it down. I’m not sure exactly what happened after that, but I do remember that it involved Harrison Brown taping his phone to the ceiling. It was a wild experience, perfectly foreshadowing the crazy tech week that followed. I will definitely miss the people the most. Being able to create magical performances together has really been something special, and it has been the amazing people that have made every performance a fun experience. Not being with all the people of CET next year will be an adjust-

McKenna Duman: “I joined CET because my freshman year, they were coming around asking for people to join crew for CET and I thought I might as well give it a try since I had no extracurriculars at the time. I did and it was the best decision of my life and have been doing it ever since. My favorite memory of CET is from ‘The Visit.’ Sets crew was in the hallway painting the wall flats and listening to music and someone requested to listen to Disney music, so I turned on a Disney playlist and it started with some song from Hannah Montana, and one of the people on my crew says, ‘This song sounds like if Bob Ross had an emo phase,’ and I just lost it. I also just love all the dance parties we always have before/after/between shows, everyone just comes together and we all have a good time. I think the thing I will miss the most about CET is just the atmosphere because whenever you’re at a crew meeting everyone is also there to get work done and we have so much fun bonding while still being productive, it’s also just so rewarding to see things come together. Everyone is so kind and willing to work with you and cares about you and it’s just an amazing atmosphere and place to be in.” mendous impacts on my life. From digging through the costumes closet for bandanas for running crew, to singing One Direction between shows, to covert rehearsals at a student’s house during a city wide power outage, CET has always enriched my life in unique, unexpected ways. I will miss the tight knit community. At school, we have our different friends and our non-theater interests, but at CET, we become a family. I think that is something that will be hard to find again in the future, and I will definitely miss my theater family a lot.”

Abby Frank: “I joined CET because I had read the book Drama by Raina Telgemeier in 8th grade, and it inspired me to do backstage stuff for my high school. On the first day of my freshman year, I saw a sign in the stairwell for the mass meeting for ‘School of Rock.’ I was sold from day one. My favorite CET memory cannot be expressed with just one story. Every tech week and show weekend, I have built new relationships and gotten to be a part of special moments that have had tre-

Bruno Hohn: “I have worn the label of ‘theater kid’ for most of my life, and participated in nearly every show throughout elementary and middle school. Despite this, I didn’t join CET until the pandemic year, when I had nothing else to do in my room and remote theater seemed like a way to hold on to a sense of community at least a little bit while we were all isolated. And while Zoom theater may not have been the most overall enthralling experience, we made the most of it (it provided the unique opportunity to feature my cat, Saoirse, in ‘The Tempest’), and I definitely liked it enough to stay for the next two years, over which my experience with CET has only gotten better. When Eliza (Fraulein Schneider) and I first attempted to rehearse the song in which I (Herr Schultz) gave her the classic romantic token of a pineapple, I remember not being able to look each other in the eyes without laughing. This was due both to the nature of the song lyrics and the prolonged eye contact we had to make, as well as Tate doing a graceful pineapple dance behind us. Even during this joyful but generally chaotic moment, we both trusted that with time we would be able to gather it into a serious and emotional performance, which we eventually did. The nature of this process, and working together with other people to shape the dynamic we have with each other, however long it may take, is one of my favorite things about theater. I will miss very many things about CET, like show nights at NYPD, Gabe’s dressing room operas, and sending only the highest quality images to @ cetunofficial, but overall, what I’m going to miss most is being part of a group that I’ve come to know bet ter and better over the few years I’ve been here, spending time being dif ferent people together (mostly Ger man ones), and generally creating a positive space that, for me, personal ly, has made the school I attend feel more like a home.” as tech director. I also loved when Abby Frank and I convinced Sarah Hechler to become our student tech director! We both sent her emails begging her to come help us after we lost a lot of mentors during the pandemic. I will miss the people. I have made so many wonderful connections during my time in CET and I am so sad to leave them all behind. But don’t worry, I’ll come back.” stayed because it ended up being the most fun extracurricular ever! What other after school activity lets you use giant saws or have access to the school’s secret closet full of prop swords! During the first show I ever did, School of Rock, I was on the platform moving team. Which basically meant I was one of the people that rearranged the platforms the actors stood on between each scene! We were directed to act super cool, like we were moving equipment for a rock band, and they kept the lights a little less dim than normal so the audience could see us. It was so much fun and I felt like a total rockstar even though I was just a little sets crew member. CET is where I’ve made some of the best friends I’ve made in my entire life. It’s like an excuse to hang out with cool people every single week instead of just going home after school. I’m really going to miss being part of the group.”

Ria Lowenschuss: “My mom made me join CET! I did tech crew throughout middle school and I loved it, but I was super nervous about joining in high school. She made me go to the mass meeting for School of Rock and I remember sitting there listening to Quinn talk and being scared out of my mind. I cannot thank my mother enough for making me take that first step into high school theater. It has been one of the best experiences of my high school career and it has truly become like family. I have so many amazing memories from CET! One that comes to mind is learning from Sage during freshman and soph omore year. He really helped me come into myself as a crew member and a leader and he was always so kind and encouraging. One thing he would always tell me is to lead from within, which has informed my leadership style throughout my time

Nadya Matish: “I did some acting in elementary school (specifically Shakespeare), and a friend con vinced me to audition for School of Rock when I started high school. I wanted to continue doing theater and meet new people! I remember one time during rehearsals for The Visit, I was late to rehearsal because I was dying my hair red for the show. As I walked into the room, the re hearsal got to the exact point my character entered the scene, so I just dropped all my stuff and jumped right into the scene! It was fun to switch into character so quickly, and it was funny that I arrived at the exact right time! I will miss everything about CET!”

Gabriel Semrau: “I joined CET because I had done my very first show the year prior with Ann Arbor Civic Theater (A2CT), and I wanted to continue with theater. CET was much bigger than A2CT, and it was a little intimidating at first, but I’m incredibly glad I did it. My favorite memory of CET is during tech week for She Kills Monsters, Emily was going around giving acting notes to people and the only note she had for me was ‘louder balls noise.’ I’m of course going to miss the community and all of the wonderful people, but I’m also going to miss the theater space itself. I’ve had a really incredible time performing in Craft.”

Felix McKenna: “I joined CET on a whim freshman year because some of my friends were joining, and I

For seniors who are on their way to college this fall, college may seem like a daunting new challenge. However, their experience at CHS has prepared them for college throughout high school.

CHS prioritizes freedom for its students, giving its students some of the liberties that are normal at college. By not imposing strict attendance rules, CHS students are left to decide what choices work best for them and face the natural consequences of whatever choices they do make. This freedom allows students to learn what this element of college is like while they are still in high school, teaching them how to best manage their time in an educational context.

The most obvious way CHS prepares its students for college is by allowing them to take actual college courses with other college students through the Community Resource (CR) program. This helps students understand the expectations of a college class, such as how to manage lectures, discussions and finals. There are many college-specific skills that students can learn from the CR program that they will need to learn in college anyway. One of these skills is writing a college paper, a skill that many high school students lack. According to a study done in the Baltimore public schools, only 13% of high school seniors were deemed ready for college-level English class. CHS students are immediately set up for success in college, both from their experience in college classes and the unique English classes available to them.

CHS also gives its students the space to explore their interests and find what they like to do best. The freedom students are afforded in deciding their own schedule and creating their own classes prepares them for a college environment in which they will have countless classes to choose from and may need to try many different things before they narrow down their interests to a specific field. For example, if students are interested in pursuing art in the future, they can fill their schedule with art classes and experiment with different techniques and teachers. This helps students learn more about themselves and their interests.

The block schedule that CHS uses is another aspect that is more similar to college than high school. This prepares students for a school experience where they won’t have every class every day, and will often have longer classes than the average high school class. CHS’s free blocks give students experience with having free time in their school day that they must choose how to use. With a full day between classes, students must find a homework schedule that allows them to get everything done.

CHS’s open campus is arguably the most college-like aspect of its environment. Unlike the rest of the AAPS high schools, CHS students are trusted to come and go on campus as they desire. Between classes, students can get a coffee from Sweetwaters or a bagel from Zingerman’s. This allows students to learn how to manage their own time and fosters an environment of trust that is present in all post-high school ventures, including college. CHS trusts its students, just like universities trust theirs.

As we have grown up throughout our high school career, we have been given more and more trust and respect from our teachers and peers. Now, as we begin to think about our next steps, we have an advantage: although we are still learning, we have a good sense of ourselves, because of how CHS has prepared us.