The 6 Timers Club

6Timers The

Club

Written by:

Mike Cimino

Theater Arts Faculty

There is a picture in my office, surrounded by the cast photos from 20 years of directing, of a few shining, 7th-grade faces. Scrawled on the top of the photo is “The 6 Timers Club.” These few pictures are of the handful of SAAS students that have been in every musical from 7th-12th grade. On closing night of the fall musical, I usually say a few words in celebration of the seniors’ accomplishments.

A few years back, I started giving out a special notice for those students who had been in both of the middle school musicals plus all four of the upper school musicals. There are usually one or two honorees. In 2017, there were three, and they found a picture of themselves in their 7th-grade musical “Bye Bye Birdie” and framed themselves, scrawling “The 6 Timers Club” across the top of the cheap frame.

Every year now I add the faces of those who have gone the distance to the office picture. This year one of the honorees was Justin Selby. I went to print a picture of him from his 7thgrade musical and realized that he was wearing pretty much the same top hat and tails as he wore this year in his senior musical. When you put the pictures side by side there is an immense charm in musing on what is different in him now, and what remains the same. In the stage lights you can see his same joy of singing and acting — but somehow he has grown into a man who controls and crafts that pure energy. This year there were a record four “long-haulers.” They were: Delaney Belcher, Annabelle Burg, Jake Hellman and Justin Selby. They started

in 7th grade in “James and the Giant Peach.” After that, “The Music Man”; “Mamma Mia”; “Into the Woods”; our online, quarantine musical “Songs for a New World”; and finally, this fall, “Urinetown.”

This year was special. Going into auditions in the fall it was hard to tell how the year would progress. We kept a positive outlook but the specter of Covid interrupting our live performance always hung overhead. We rehearsed with special singing masks and adhered to social distancing guidelines. We found ways to be creative and use those imposed handicaps as a way to stretch our artistic expression rather than limit it. There was a feeling in every rehearsal that we should get the most out of our time together and stay positive. We gave each other a lot of grace because we were just happy to be together. We persevered during the 2020-21 school year and made a piece from our homes. It was an amazing feat, but we all knew that it didn’t live up to the shared experience of being together in a space, harmonizing in a shared imagination. Our renewed feeling this year informed every rehearsal and elevated the experience to more than just another school musical.

Other than just the maturation of growing in performance skills and stage experience, what is the benefit of being part of these musicals for six years? At a very basic level, the amount of coordination and memorization required is formidable. Sometimes I will record the run of an act on an iPad so the lighting designer and I can see where people are when we are adjusting lighting after hours.

As I scroll through the hourlong act, all I see are patterns. (Especially this year, as the patterns had to be as strict as I could make them in order to keep people at a distance.) Not only are the students moving for the entire time in a shared pattern of stage blocking, they are also executing highly structured

Penelope Pennywise in “Urinetown” (2021)

Lucille Van Kooglestein in “James and the Giant Peach” (2016-17)

Delaney Belcher, Class of 2022

Soupy Sue in “Urinetown” (2021)

Lucille Van Kooglestein in “James and the Giant Peach” (2016-17)

Annabelle Burg, Class of 2022

Officer Lockstock in “Urinetown” (2021)

Joe in “James and the Giant Peach” (2016-17)

Jake Hellman, Class of 2022

Caldwell B. Caldwell in “Urinetown” (2021)

Ladahlord in “James and the Giant Peach” (2016-17)

Justin Selby, Class of 2022

choreography while singing, speaking dialogue, and all the while exuding the story through character. Looking at this in fast motion I cannot doubt that their brains are growing in immeasurable ways.

It takes a lot of time to put these musicals together. The coordination of acting, singing, dancing with band, sound, lights, sets and costume requires time and effort. In that time a group, if it is lucky, will become a mini-family. Over years of participating in these shows, a long-hauler knows that the trust and goodwill that is complimented by fellow performers at the end of a run has to be earned. They have the knowledge of leaders from the past who have conducted themselves in a way that welcomes newcomers and underclassmen. They know that the aftereffect of the project is not just the photos and the videos, it is the relationships. They have learned how to hit deadlines. They’ve seen other students who did not memorize material or who missed too much rehearsal. They have learned how to be leaders and they know they are teaching another generation of leaders to take their place. They know the traditions. They know when to push and when to compliment. It’s not a very fair club, as some kids come to SAAS in the 9th grade. I can say the same lovely things about the four timers club, as well. What maybe sets the “6 Timers” group apart is how little they were when they began. None of them had the leading role in 7th grade. They have all had various roles in the interim but one thing is clear: no matter where they were cast each year, they did their part to tell the story and support the project. They grew into these wonderful adults who we can track through their costumes and their roles over the years.

All this magical growth happened in one space.

Whether it was a giant peach, a small town in Iowa, a Greek island, a fairy-tale land or a public amenity, these students have transformed themselves from world to world, character to character, and children to adults in front of our eyes.

A musical is special because it allows the actors, singers and dancers a place to congregate and ply their individual talents in the pursuance of one goal: to transport the audience into a world where we can learn about ourselves through story, feeling and song. As the show is put away and the magic of the moment recedes like a sandcastle on the tide; as the actors move on to non-musical plays; as the dancers prepare their concerts and the singers learn their harmonies for spring, the echo of their shared six years of musical theater will be a map of their growth and a testament to their resilience in these unprecedented times. They will be able to tell you of the glory days, the days spent apart making whatever art they could, and the joy of reconnecting and remerging where old faces seem new again and six times is a charm.

The full cast of “Urinetown” in the Arts Center Theater in fall 2021.

“They have learned how to be leaders and they know they are teaching another generation of leaders to take their place.”

SAAS SNAPSHOT: Affinity Groups

Black Student Union (BSU) members Mia Pickett, Class of 2022, and Erin Howard, Class of 2023, assemble the final pieces of a community quilt during Black History Month in February 2022.