by Rae-Anna Maitland and Rebecca Benson, Theatre Arts Teachers
We mine for these moments and when a piece of art hits a chord with its audience, you can feel it in the room. Eyes are fixed, posture is pitched forward, people laugh and gasp spontaneously, the space comes alive. This summer, in a venue that has been used by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 1947, an 89 seat black-box theatre off the Royal Mile, your classmates, students and children struck theatre gold.
This past July, 15 students from Elmwood, along with Alums Stella Fisher and Mia Cheng, and faculty Ms. Rebecca Benson and myself, flew to the UK to see a wildly creative Guys-and-Dolls in London's West End, visit the Globe Theatre and tour the city. Then, we travelled by bus to Edinburgh where we spent the next 10 days performing, seeing shows, visiting a castle, climbing Arthur's seat, participating in workshops and occasionally getting enough sleep to get us through the next day.
The make-up of Edinburgh morphs in the month of August during the Fringe Festival and the performing arts take centre stage, filling the streets, galleries, shops and venues with live performances. The population of the city doubles with audiences and artists, hopeful to catch these moments of magic. As participants in the American High School Theatre Festival (a festival-within-a-festival, if you will,) Elmwood performed our devised show Artemis vs. Apollo: Clash of the Celestial Twins - High School Edition four times for an international audience of students and travellers (and some keen parents!). The work schedule was full and demanding. Nevertheless, we received feedback numerous times that the Elmwood cast was mature, respectful, positive and skilled in each of the workshops they took as participants, their whirlwind tech rehearsal, and for their exceptional performances on stage. To say that this made me proud to be one of their leaders is a sincere understatement; I was elated and am still.
This experience is unlike many other school trips in that upon arrival in the abroad location, the participants share something they have been creating with a large group of strangers. In the case of our show, it was original, funny, relevant and heartwarmingly personal, which is why it struck such a unique chord with its audience. This takes focus, consistency, teamwork and perhaps most notably, bravery. Thank-you to the Elmwood community for believing in this project, to the parents for their support of their children, and to the incredible student creator/performers of this production for bravely jumping into the unknown with us.
“It was truly an unforgettable experience that I will cherish forever.” Stella Fisher
“I’m so glad that we were able to do this trip with such an amazing group of people.” Naomi Baird
Cast of Artemis vs. Apollo: Clash of the Celestial Twins - High School Edition
Naomi Baird
Kate Bouchard
Mia Cheng
Maddy Delaney
Kacey Fraser-Robinson
Sadie Hanley
Freida Kaplan - Myrth
Eva Li
Amélie Lorrain
Izzie Morgan
Rebekah Ouderkirk
Rowyn Pratte
Lily Sun
Hannah Vermeij
Madeleine Winter