Hayfield drama students will present "No, No, Nanette" on May 9-11, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 general, $5 patron, $3 senior. For more information, call 703-924-7656.
All Hayfield Secondary School theatre arts students 7-12 benefit from being a part of a secondary school program.
Both middle school and high school students participate in their respective theatre sports meets. Helping coach the middle school students for their meets are high school students who competed in theatre sports when they were in middle school. Both sets of students also provide cheering sections for each other at meets.
Both middle and high school recently participated on the same day in the Folger Shakespeare Festival, and each group took great pride in the other's performance. The middle school theme was "Disguises" and the high school was "Ambition." An added benefit was that some different scenes from the same shows appeared as examples of both themes. This year's middle school musical was "The Sound of Music," and the high school students got to share their experience in the technical areas, as crew leads, choreographer, assistant director, stage manager, and assistant technical director.
NOW THAT "No, No, Nanette" has been cast, the tech interest meeting will certainly include middle school students who have already gained tech knowledge by working with high school students on "The Sound of Music." All supplies, tools and stock items such as costumes and props are shared, so it is beneficial to the entire program that so many students are knowledgeable. Having a large number of interested and knowledgeable students also comes in very handy if someone should have to drop out of a show.
Hayfield High theatre students are very conscious of their responsibility as good role models. The middle school students like seeing what they can strive to be if they stick with drama. The goal emphasized in both middle and high school is ensemble.
BOTH HIGH AND middle school students stay busy all year with their own theater projects. Hayfield high school usually presents a straight play, an evening of one-acts, and a musical each year, besides competitions and festivals. The high school theatre students are also very proud to have been a part of Cappies since the very beginning; in fact, Hayfield's "Our Town" was the first Cappies show reviewed. The middle school usually presents a straight play (or one-acts), a musical, and an end-of-the-year show called "The Courtyard Show." "The Courtyard Show" originated when the middle school theatre arts teacher 30 years ago noticed a courtyard with a stage near the high school science rooms. She found enough interested students to present an evening of original skits, songs, and dances based on a theme. It took only a couple of years for this to become a middle school theatre arts tradition: in June, Hayfield Middle School students will present the "30th Annual Courtyard Show."
Hayfield Secondary started its renovation this year, and January, 2003, is the date when the theatre will become unavailable for several months. Everyone is looking forward to finding new spaces for different kinds of shows. The high school students who aren't graduating this year are hoping that they get to be the first group ever to do a high school courtyard show — they say they would like it to be the 1st Annual High School Courtyard Show.