volume 51, Issue 6 March 7, 2013
Walt whitman High school
7100 whittier boulevard
Bethesda, maryland 20817
theblackandwhite.net
Brighton Beach Memoirs delivers drama, laughs
By Nellie Vinograd and Chris Hodgman
“Brighton Beach Memoirs” impressed audiences with solid acting and professional-quality production. The show, a semi-autobiographical piece by legendary playwright Neil Simon, follows a somewhat-dysfunctional Jewish family as they try to survive the difficulties of Great Depression life in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn, New York. In the steady hands of this ensemble, Simon’s rhythmic and vivid writing-style came to life with ease. The cast members skillfully balanced emotional maturity with comedic timing, and even attempted a variety of accurate New York accents. Sophomore Noah Franklin excelled as Eugene, a 15-year-old boy whose monologues, styled to sound like journal entries, provided a believable narration to the story. Some of the show’s most intimate – and hilarious – moments came from the conversations between Eugene and his “experienced” older brother Stanley, played expertly by junior Ryan Savage. Together, they discuss everything from puberty to their beautiful teenage cousin Nora (senior Michelle Huey) in the privacy of their shared bedroom. Raging hormones aside, most of the play’s tension comes from the strained interactions between Eugene’s mother Kate (senior Aliza Daniels) and her family. As the assertive matriarch, Daniels showed off her forceful nature through nagging her husband Jack (junior Nathan Liu,) nitpicking her spoiled niece, Laurie (junior Jessie Mann,) and fighting with her sister, Blanche (sophomore Hannah Chenok.) The believable confrontations made playgoers feel as if they were experiencing a real family’s day-to-day experiences. Some actors occasionally lapsed into exaggerated characterization, which overpowered the dialogue’s meaningful message, but overall the cast’s performance was convincing and charming. An intricate set created under the leadership of Technical Directors Nicholas Allen and Matthew Lewis enhanced the show’s familial atmosphere, and Scenic Designer Hailey LaRoe did not overlook any details in making the home look and feel as genuine as possible. The props team, led by junior Cera McAndrew and senior Evan Lund, also added to this authentic feel with their addition of period home furnishings. Producer and senior Daniel Levine said this sense of realism is what sets the play apart from past productions. “Nothing is too exaggerated or over-the-top,” Levine said. “It required a lot of research to understand the context of the show, so the details are very elaborate, but everything is still very realistic.” The 1930s-style music gave a cheeky edge to
Top: from left, senior Michelle Huey, junior Jessie Mann, senior Aliza Daniels, and sophomore Noah Franklin. Franklin starred as a 15-year-old Jewish boy coming of age during the Great Depression. Below: Franklin sits at the foot of his bed and speaks to the audience. The cast staged performances last Thursday through Saturday. some of the show’s apparent. humorous moments, but could be distracting when “Doing things like a New York accent is seriously playing over the characters’ heated conversations. difficult, but most of the actors pulled it off really Sound and lighting had no detectable technical well,” sophomore Becca Haven said. “Everyone in problems, which is no easy feat for a high school the cast was really talented and I was impressed by production. the challenges they took on.” Many in the audience was pleased and surprised Despite the fact that cast and crew were crunched by the professional quality of the play, especially for rehearsal time, their hard work was well worth considering its often-raunchy humor and mature it, director Christopher Gerken said. themes. The setting of the show posed a challenge “Everyone in the cast really holds their own, and for cast and crew, but their dedication was always the tech team always brings so much hard work to
Gallup poll publishes report card for students and faculty by Fionn Adamian
Walt Whitman teachers and students say they are “engaged” in their work more frequently than the county’s average, according to an Oct. 2012 Gallup poll of 14,370 employees and 66,890 students in MCPS. The poll, which measures a variety of factors ranging from recognition of good work to friendship, averaged the results of 12 questions for teachers and six for students. Gallup rated Whitman’s employee engagement at 3.99 out of 5, while student hope and engagement were 4.43 and 4.09 out of 5, respectively. The county’s employee engagement was 3.83 out 5 and student hope and engagement were 4.35 and 3.84 out of 5. Whitman also outstripped the MCPS average in student wellbeing, ranking 7.32
4 NEWS
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out of 10 compared to MCPS’ mean of 7.08 out of 10. For each question, Gallup reporte only those students and teachers responding “strongly agree.” The four lowest-scoring categories for MCPS teachers, including those at Whitman, were as follows: 31 percent of teachers strongly agreed that their opinion seemed to count, 30 percent strongly agreed they had a best friend at work, 28 percent strongly agreed that they received recognition for doing good work and 26 percent strongly agreed that they had recently talked to someone about their progress. Only 30 percent of students strongly agreed that they received praise for doing good school work, which was the lowest scoring student category. MCPS commissioned the Gallup
6 OPINION
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poll so administrators could improve on their school’s weaknesses. After the results were released, principal Alan Goodwin held a meeting with teachers to discuss solutions to remedy these weaknesses. Teachers will discuss strategies to address the concerns raised by the poll within their course teams and set goals for improvement. As a method of improving, teachers could set goals with their PLC, and later see if they have accomplished them, staff development teacher Suzy Johnson said. Even though he is using the poll’s results to improve the school’s staff, Goodwin emphasized that the school shouldn’t place too much weight on the poll, noting its poorly worded questions. “For instance, when they asked if teachers had a best friend at work,
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they didn’t give was an explanation of what ‘best friend’ was,” he said. “A best friend could just be a colleague who shares lesson plans with you. It’s not best drinking buddies.” Goodwin was mainly surprised by the number of students who didn’t feel that they would get a good job after high school, as only 37 percent strongly agreed that they would. The staff plans to address students’ engagement and recognition in the coming weeks, Johnson said. Junior Russell Grant hopes that students receive more positive feedback from teachers to improve their performance. “There are a lot of teachers that say literally nothing about your work; they just grade it,” he said. “Positive recognition is a good opportunity for encouragement especially for a student that is struggling in a class.”
Bethesda Blues
13 SPORTS
Spring sports preview