Drama Classes Take Their Final Curtain Calls
Drama performs last musicals of the year, “Schoolhouse Rock!” and “Rebels’ Tribute.”
By Sophia Aranda
Drama performs last musicals of the year, “Schoolhouse Rock!” and “Rebels’ Tribute.”
By Sophia Aranda
This semester, the drama program put on two musical shows, one by advanced drama and the other by beginning drama. These performances are one of the last few shows of the year, each made up of countless catchy and fun songs for viewers to enjoy.
The advanced drama class’s play “Schoolhouse Rock!” is a 15-minute musical based on a series of animated shorts created in 1973 by David McCall. Each cartoon short consists of songs that are used to teach children about several educational topics. In the school musical, a few shorts were selected for the students to perform onstage.
Beginning drama was also able to put on a strong performance in “Rebels’ Tribute,” which takes place in the 1960s to the 1990s. The show is based on a group of rebellious teenagers that are being mischievous during detention. The songs that were performed during Rebels Tribute were “Greased Lightnin’” from “Grease,” “Doin' Time for Bein' Young” from “Cry-Baby”, “Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Footloose” from “Footloose” and “Cruisin' for a Bruisin’” from “Teen Beach Movie.”
Advanced drama student Leyla Bikul, 10, gives an insight of the songs that were used to teach elementary school students about different subjects during each show.
“In our live-action rendition, we have been performing songs about nouns, multiplication, adverbs, the solar system and interjections,” said Bikul.
For this performance, the advanced drama class traveled to different elementary schools in the San Jose Unified School District, and performed in front of elementary school students. There were two separate casts, which would take turns touring each week, on Wednesdays.
On May 16, advanced drama put on their final performance at Pioneer High School for their families, friends and anyone else wanting to attend.
Allison Hoang, 11, is happy to perform “Schoolhouse Rock!” every week, as no two shows are the same due to performing at a different school each week.
“I’ve loved every single tour show I’ve gone on, being in the cast and visiting elementary schools have been the highlight of my weeks,” said Hoang.
The performances can show students that they are able to reach their goals and pursue something that they find interesting.
“I genuinely enjoy performing the whole show at the elementary schools because it's really heartwarming to see the interest and awe in the kids' faces when we tour for them,” said Bikul. “I've received comments from them like, ‘I want to be like you when I grow up’ because they basically see us as celebrities which is kind of empowering.”
Each song has a lead dancer, and the backstory of the lead depends on the song that is being performed. Meghan Bellman, 9, played a lead dancer for “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin.’”
“I get to play Brady from ‘Teen Beach Movie’ in the song ‘Cruisin’ for a Bruisin” and I’m looking forward to performing it because I'm one of the main characters and ‘Teen Beach Movie’ is one of my favorite movies of all time,” said Bellman.
Jade Schwartz, 9, had fun leading up to the first performance and she enjoyed the teamwork and patience that everyone had participating in the dances.
“My favorite moment leading up to the first dance was how everyone had fun and helped each other out when it came to trying to nail certain steps or parts of the dance, and overall there was just a lot of teamwork and patience,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz had fun leading up to the first performance and she enjoyed the teamwork and patience that everyone had participating in the dances.
“My favorite moment was at the end of every number when we froze for a minute so everyone could applaud and congratulate our efforts, it was definitely a great feeling,” said Schwartz.
The advanced drama class’s play “Schoolhouse Rock!” is a 15-minute musical based on a series of animated shorts created in 1973 by David McCall. Each cartoon short consists of songs that are used to teach children about several educational topics. In the school musical, a few shorts were selected for the students to perform onstage.
Beginning drama was also able to put on a strong performance in “Rebels’ Tribute,” which takes place in the 1960s to the 1990s. The show is based on a group of rebellious teenagers that are being mischievous during detention. The songs that were performed during Rebels Tribute were “Greased Lightnin’” from “Grease,” “Doin' Time for Bein' Young” from “Cry-Baby”, “Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Footloose” from “Footloose” and “Cruisin' for a Bruisin’” from “Teen Beach Movie.”
Advanced drama student Leyla Bikul, 10, gives an insight of the songs that were used to teach elementary school students about different subjects during each show.
“In our live-action rendition, we have been performing songs about nouns, multiplication, adverbs, the solar system and interjections,” said Bikul.
For this performance, the advanced drama class traveled to different elementary schools in the San Jose Unified School District, and performed in front of elementary school students. There were two separate casts, which would take turns touring each week, on Wednesdays.
On May 16, advanced drama put on their final performance at Pioneer High School for their families, friends and anyone else wanting to attend.
Allison Hoang, 11, is happy to perform “Schoolhouse Rock!” every week, as no two shows are the same due to performing at a different school each week.
“I’ve loved every single tour show I’ve gone on, being in the cast and visiting elementary schools have been the highlight of my weeks,” said Hoang.
The performances can show students that they are able to reach their goals and pursue something that they find interesting.
“I genuinely enjoy performing the whole show at the elementary schools because it's really heartwarming to see the interest and awe in the kids' faces when we tour for them,” said Bikul. “I've received comments from them like, ‘I want to be like you when I grow up’ because they basically see us as celebrities which is kind of empowering.”
Each song has a lead dancer, and the backstory of the lead depends on the song that is being performed. Meghan Bellman, 9, played a lead dancer for “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin.’”
“I get to play Brady from ‘Teen Beach Movie’ in the song ‘Cruisin’ for a Bruisin” and I’m looking forward to performing it because I'm one of the main characters and ‘Teen Beach Movie’ is one of my favorite movies of all time,” said Bellman.
Jade Schwartz, 9, had fun leading up to the first performance and she enjoyed the teamwork and patience that everyone had participating in the dances.
“My favorite moment leading up to the first dance was how everyone had fun and helped each other out when it came to trying to nail certain steps or parts of the dance, and overall there was just a lot of teamwork and patience,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz had fun leading up to the first performance and she enjoyed the teamwork and patience that everyone had participating in the dances.
“My favorite moment was at the end of every number when we froze for a minute so everyone could applaud and congratulate our efforts, it was definitely a great feeling,” said Schwartz.