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the artist in you.
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arts curriculum: I T ’ S A G R A D U AT I O N R E Q U I R E M E N T. The arts at Mercersburg are anything but extracurricular. Our stages, rehearsal rooms, art studios, and scene shops are very much real classrooms, not unlike the court or the field, the pool or the diamond.
Artwork from Blue Review Course offerings: Introduction to Dance Dance Composition I Dance Composition II Dance Composition III Acting I Acting II: Improvisation Techniques Acting II: Advanced Scene Study Acting III: Advanced Ensemble Fundamentals of Design Physics of Theatre Stagecraft Speech Band Performance Choral Performance String Performance The History of Music Making Music: Guitar & Drums Music Theory I Music Theory II Music Theory III Writing Music for Today’s World Ceramics I Ceramics II Computer Art Digital Video Art Drawing I Drawing II Painting I Painting II Sculpture I Sculpture II Advanced Studio Art Advanced Topics in Ceramics: Personal Narrative Advanced Topics in Ceramics: Sets Advanced Topics in Ceramics: Teapots AP Art History
All students take two terms (credits) of art, music, or theatre in the 10th-grade year. Many students take additional courses in subsequent years and perform in related groups. Credit is given for Chorale, Band, and other performing groups: one full credit is earned for a full year’s membership (three terms) in a performing group.
visual arts: Y O U R C A N VA S W O N ’ T B E B L A N K FOR LONG. In Mercersburg’s studio arts program, students learn to take risks and master their fear of making mistakes. Courses include media ranging from ceramics to digital video art, sculpture, painting, and drawing. Student artwork is displayed in the Burgin Center for the Arts’ Cofrin Gallery and across the campus. What’s more, Mercersburg students regularly win prizes in juried arts competitions. Any number of our students have received Gold or Silver Key Awards in art at the Central Pennsylvania Regional Scholastic Arts Awards, the longestrunning and most prestigious awards program for creative young students in the United States. The faculty are themselves working artists, and Mercersburg students routinely produce works that win regional and national awards. For challenge and inspiration, student works hang alongside that of professionals in the Burgin Center’s Cofrin Gallery.
Stony Batter Players: O U R W O R L D I S Y O U R S TA G E . Named for President James Buchanan’s birthplace, which is just down the highway from the Academy, Mercersburg’s Stony Batter theatre company is more than 100 years old. Out of Mercersburg’s alumni have come two Oscar-winning actors, Jimmy Stewart ’28 (The Philadelphia Story, Rear Window, It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Benicio Del Toro ’85 (Traffic, Che, The Usual Suspects, and Wolfman). Annually, Stony Batter produces two big fall productions, a major musical, one-acts, Shakespeare scenes, and a senior production. In addition to those mentioned earlier, recent productions have included Arsenic and Old Lace, Pride and Prejudice, The Breakfast Club, and scenes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice. With all this, including lighting, stage management, and set construction, it’s easy for all students, not just actors, to find ways to get involved and be creative.
music: T H E B E AT R A R E LY S T O P S AT M E R C E R S B U R G . Whether you are a singer or an instrumentalist, you can take advantage of numerous performing ensembles. Singers learn skills like proper breathing, tone production, and sight-singing; instrumentalists play jazz, classical, and everything in between. Students can receive academic credit for participating in certain ensembles. All bands, ensembles, and singing groups perform publicly in the Burgin Center. The Chapel Choir performs at Baccalaureate, the String Ensemble during family weekends, The Octet might travel to Disney World or the Kennedy Space Center, while the Band and Chorale combine music and community service by performing at local schools and retirement centers, plus Evensong at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Performing groups: The Octet Magalia The Chorale The Concert Band The Jazz Band The Percussion Ensemble The Chapel Choir The String Ensemble
the literary arts: ALIVE AND WELL AND WAXING W O N D E R F U L LY AT M E R C E R S B U R G . Mercersburg’s annual literary-arts magazine, Blue Review, combines all forms of written and visual self-expression and year after year wins national awards for outstanding writing and editing, design and layout, artwork, and overall concept. There is also our prestigious literary club, known as The Fifteen, whose members are seniors who meet regularly to discuss literature with faculty. It’s a sophisticated little afterdinner society: desserts, discussion, and the distinct feeling of being equals and colleagues. Artwork from Blue Review
dancing I S D I S C O V E R Y. Dance has a way of making total converts out of the most avid skeptics. Students (often guys, but not always) inevitably arrive at school saying loudly “Not me!” whenever dancing is mentioned. Then they see the first student dance concert of the year, and suddenly you’ll hear from these same students, “Hey, I want to do that!” When we ask students to list the things they have tried for the first time at Mercersburg, many mention dance. Perhaps that’s the result of the enthusiastic instruction, the guest artists from New York City, Chicago, and around the world, or their first realization that dance requires all of the physicality and flexibility of athletics, if not more. Mercersburg’s facilities are extraordinary, too. Dance studios have floor-to-ceiling mirrors, ballet barres, costume rooms, and even floors specifically designed for dancers’ shoes. Mercersburg dancers present two major productions a year, representing dance styles ranging from ballet to flamenco to swing. In addition to performing, students serve as lighting designers, stage managers, sound engineers, and choreographers. Each production features the work of guest choreographers in addition to that of the Academy’s dance director and even student choreographers. Outside the curriculum, students can take beginning through advanced levels of modern and ballet as afternoon activities. In addition, students occasionally organize and teach dance classes in genres such as salsa, hip-hop, and step.
the Burgin Center: ��,��� S Q U A R E F E E T O F A R T I S T I C H E AV E N . The Burgin Center is where you learn—and live—the arts. It’s where you can be Hamlet or Pippin. It’s where you can learn to throw pots or to pirouette. Where you can play Bach or Basie, Bernstein or Beastie Boys. It’s where you perform in musicals like Grease, Into the Woods, and Brigadoon, or serious dramas like The Diary of Anne Frank. It’s where you experience world-class artists live in performance, such as Oscar-nominated composer Philip Glass, the incomparable violinist Itzhak Perlman, or the renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company. Burgin houses the 600-seat Simon Theatre, a handsome, traditional proscenium stage with a full fly tower; sophisticated lighting and sound capabilities; complete scene, prop, and costume shops; and an orchestra pit with a hydraulic lift. On the more experimental front, there is the 120-seat Hale Studio Theatre, often described as “the black box” or the theatre-in-the-round. More intimate and flexible, it’s the home of the annual student-directed one-acts and other experimental works. There are spacious dance and art studios, an art gallery, rehearsal rooms, and recording facilities. Throughout, the Burgin Center combines simple but important things, such as natural light and plenty of space, with advanced accommodations, such as digital-art and music labs or specialty high-tech flooring in the dance studios.
WE DON’T JUST THINK YOU’RE AN ARTIST,
we know you are.
Everybody has the right stuff to be an artist in some way, shape, or form. All it takes is a little structured exploration. By cultivating your unique creativity, you will invite a richness and texture into your life and your education—something that will stimulate your mind and spirit in diverse and surprisingly positive ways. We’re not a conservatory, though many students arrive with impressive experience. No student ever needs to arrive with prior experience in any art form, just a sincere desire to explore and discover. It is totally normal for a Mercersburg student to tackle a role onstage for the first time or experience having a painting or sculpture in a public exhibit. Students quickly learn that to “make it” as artists at Mercersburg, they must have superior dedication and focus, while they come to understand that being an artist is as much about collaboration and teamwork as it is about personal expression.
Please consider this my personal invitation to come and define yourself in |ways that only the arts can provide. The arts have existed throughout human history as a way of knowing oneself and making sense of one’s experiences in the world. At Mercersburg, the arts faculty focus on building creativity, competence, and confidence within each of the disciplines. Our curriculum will open your eyes to your total potential as a young artist and student. Consistently, my students tell me that when they are fully engaged artistically, they also perform better in their non-arts classes and activities. No prior arts experience is required whatsoever!
Denise Dalton Head, Fine Arts Department Director of Dance
300 E. Seminary Street, Mercersburg, PA 17236
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