A Polar Beverage grant is helping BPS schools light up their productions

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Lights, camera, action! Thanks to a grant from the Polar Beverage Company, BPS arts teachers can now borrow lights from the district resource center for their own musical theater productions. Teachers at the Donald McKay School recently used the new lights to light up their stage for a student production of Aladdin.

“This was definitely the most professional production we've ever put on,” said Natalie Bruno, the elementary theater arts teacher at McKay. “We were able to get more technology and get nicer costumes and things that make the show look engaging. And people were definitely impressed with the production quality.”
Around 40 students in the third through fifth grade were able to participate in the show. Rehearsals began back in October after school and just ended in March, with two special performances for friends and family members to come see. This was the school’s third Disney production.

“There were definitely some wow moments,” Bruno said. “In A Whole New World, the magic carpet gets pulled around and Jasmine and Aladdin sit on it. And all of the students come out in the ensemble with finger lights that look like stars. That was a big wow moment in the show.”

As for the main stage lights provided by the Polar Beverage grant, Bruno said the lights were portable and easy to use. She said they made a huge difference in the production quality of the overall show, something that fellow music teacher Bryan Bigelow also expressed was a great helped improve the production value of the performance.

“The improvements we’ve seen, not only in student performances, but of production value of our shows, is just getting more and more kids excited about musical theater,” Bigelow said. “And I think families are coming out and supporting it more, too. We've also, in the past two years, expanded our offering of music and theater to our middle school students as well.”

Bruno and Bigelow said they are still deciding what show the school will put on next year but are excited to see the progress to come with the theater and arts program at the Donald McKay School.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 6, 2019 at 4:09 AM

    Incredibly impressive performance and show! Your hard work shined through!

    ReplyDelete

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