For this year’s Exhibition, Room 15 kids have opted to produce a musical based on the 1899 New York City newsboy strike (similar to but not the same as Disney’s “Newsies”). Because Exhibition is meant to involve all students in a significant collaborative project, all Room 15 kids will be expected to participate in the musical. Some students will be acting, others will be working on set design and prop construction, as stage hands, or in other support roles.

Tryouts for speaking roles will be held on the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 6th. Interested students, regardless of the role they’re pursuing, need to memorize this tryout script. Students will be able to identify desired roles when trying out.

All students, regardless of duties, will be challenged to develop a costume—and they’ll need parent help to do it.  Though Exhibition isn’t until late April, now is the time to get started. We’d like to see costumes completed by Spring Break. These pictures show what newsie “street kids” looked like. Note that a few students will be cast in minor adult roles. They’ll need to develop a costume based on the stylish folks in the picture at right.

Exhibition is quite possibly the most significant focal point of our entire school year. In addition to the musical itself, students will be documenting what they learn and why it’s important. Staging a quality musical is an exceptionally complicated challenge. It’ll only come off if all our students put forth their absolute best effort and families lend their maximum support. However, school musicals are also tremendously rewarding, the kind of thing that students remember and take pride in forever. Thank you in advance for your support!