Heritage Show cancelled
One of the many things Springbrook has never hesitated to be proud of is the diversity of the student body. The school flaunts this diversity in many ways; we have the hall of nations where we show off flags from the numerous countries that our student body represents and we have heritage week. Perhaps the greatest way we honor this diversity is with the annual Heritage Show. The Heritage Show is an event where students perform various acts, such as dancing, singing or acting that show off various aspects of their individual cultures. The Heritage Show has always been a big deal at the school; selling out both opening night and the encore presentation the second night. Since the Heritage Show is such a big dea,l one would wonder why there is even the slightest question as to whether there should be one this year.
This question has come up due to the fact that the drama department is no longer headed by English teacher Elizabeth O’Neill. In previous years, she taught all the theatre classes and directed the fall play, spring musical and Heritage show, in addition to her duties as an English teacher. The theatre classes along with any other productions sponsored by the drama department have been passed over to other faculty within the building. Administration did not get rid of the theatre classes and that is understandable, but why have auditions and casting for the fall musical already taken place? Not to criticize the musicals and plays that take place in this school, but the fact of the matter is that there is never as big a buzz about the musicals and plays and the auditorium is never as packed any other night like it is for the Heritage Show.
The Heritage Show is honored with a whole week of activities, like a spirit week, culminating with the big show and most people that usually take part in the show start to plan their acts months in advance. That is how important it is for a lot of students.
People are disappointed about the number of students that choose to come to our school over the other Northeast Consortium schools. Well here is some news; not having a Heritage Show is not going to raise those numbers.
To put it simply, the Heritage Show is a big deal. There are not a lot of events during the year that students can look forward to. We have Homecoming, Spirit Week and Hang-up but other than those whopping three events there is little else. The importance of the show should not be overlooked and we should not settle for not having one this year. In doing so we will be thwarting the diversity that this school has become so proud of and lowering school spirit in the process.
Comments
Khanh Tran Ho
I totally agree. There could not be anything worse than canceling our school’s most exciting event of the year. It’s…our thing.
Paul
This should not be canceled, heritage week is an impotent week for culture and Springbrook students.
Ms. Francis
It would be awfully sad to lose such a great tradition! Here’s the thing, (from one faculty member’s perspective): I think the issue is NOT that no one wants the show to continue, but rather that it’s hard to find a sponsor who has the time to devote to such an enormous production. Heritage Night is a ton of work to produce, and it’s possible that faculty and staff are unable to commit. Can anyone offer a solution?
Anonymous888
positive*
negative* in the first paragraph, you wrote dea,l (but every body makes mistakes)
*Administration did not get rid of the theatre classes and that is understandable, but why have auditions and casting for the fall musical already taken place? this sentence does not make much since to me
*I would have liked if you told the reader why it got cancelled and maybe who is responsible
Posted Oct 20, 2009 at 9:03 am