CASA anglerfish sculpture
Students at the Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA) began running rehearsals for an all-original annual student showcase this week, which has been in the works since September.
The charter’s Strawberry Square campus dance room was packed full Tuesday morning as 11th and 12th graders completed their first collective run-through of the first act of “Waves,” this year’s CASA Live production.
“It’s a collection of stories that explore relationships through the lens of the setting of the ocean,” explained 17-year-old Lucy Tibbs.
CASA coral
Tibbs, a senior in the theater program, is one of 94 upper-level students who’ve collaborated on the production. CASA’s creative writing students pen the lines the theater students perform. CASA’s music students create original music, which its dance students then then create choreography for.
The film and video students handle audiovisual production and projected scenes. The visual arts students create costumes and sets for the show, which, this year, include giant anglerfish and coral sculptures built inside the campus’ cafeteria.
Tibbs said “Waves” is both a setting and a theme.
The two-act performance is set in the ocean but also themed around “waves of emotion and waves of life,” she said. It features four vignettes.
CASA students sew a jellyfish costume
“They all kind of relate to the different way life flows in waves,” Tibbs said of the vignettes, which are designed to convey luring, isolation, identity and grief, and self-destruction.
The show is complete with “flashback” scenes, added Maya Nelson, 17, a senior concentrating in film. When the students met to discuss CASA Live, she and another classmate, Remy Gabrick, determined that was the best way “film could fit in.”
“We basically sit around in a room,” said Gabrick, grade 12, explaining how CASA Live develops. “They call representatives from each art, and they sort of workshop ideas and where we might implement the arts in each section.”
Six teachers helped the students develop the performance with theater teacher Lauren Callen taking the lead.
CASA students perform Act I of “Waves”
Callen said that students working in this interdisciplinary fashion primes them with experience for the real world. They learn how to advocate for themselves, how to give and take, and how to accept if a personal vision may not best serve their team.
“Every job you take, especially in the arts, is a social art form,” Callen said.
The process also helps students develop empathy and respect for how other art forms produce material, she added.
“It’s like a capstone project for 11th and 12th graders. You could liken it to almost a thesis project at the next level of education for how in-depth it is,” said CASA’s principal, Erica Leonard.
Leonard added that the creation process helps kids develop collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication skills and that many of the students plan to pursue their concentrations in college and career.
CASA students prepare sets
The 204-student charter has students from 29 different school districts represented in its student body. The majority come from Central Dauphin, Susquehanna Township and Harrisburg, others live farther away, coming from places such as Hanover, Carlisle, Palmyra and Lebanon.
Leonard said that the school’s small environment helps kids feel comfortable early on. CASA, though, is set to grow a little next year.
“Next year we will have 210 students,” said George Ioannidis, CASA’s CEO.
The school has had waitlists for two years in a row, he said. Last year, the list had 40 students.
A CASA student shows a hat designed for “Waves” costuming.
He attributes this to the opportunities the school provides, including getting to spend much of their school time working in their chosen art.
“They get to do that, and they get to do it for half the day for four years,” Ioannidis said. “Who wouldn’t want to be in this environment?”
CASA students dance
To learn more about CASA Live!, visit the school’s website.
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