On May 18, 2009, 26 students from Metro Early College High School spent a day putting the finishing touches to an exhibition unlike any other they had experienced. It was the culmination of eight weeks of anticipation, planning, auditions and only three weeks of intense rehearsal. As the sold-out show approached, the kids encouraged one another and incorporated last-minute suggestions from their mentors. In the opening monologue, Steve Guyer, Shadowbox Executive Producer and CEO, told the audience, “Tonight’s show is not about talent – it’s about courage. Work ethic is critically important in getting anything off the ground, but as they stand backstage in this moment, it’s all about courage. They’ve worked really hard, so enjoy the extraordinary display of courage tonight.”
In the previous weeks, Shadowbox directors and performers worked with the Metro students on specific sketch comedy characters and songs for the show. They coached the kids one-on-one to teach character development, vocal projection, stage craft, audience connection and physical confidence. Rather than taking a classroom approach, the rehearsals were structured like performance workshops so the kids could participate freely, develop a rapport with the directors and their fellow cast members, and get a sense of what it’s like to be a part of an ensemble.
How does STEM learning apply to a musical and comedy performance? As a delivery system, STEM shows kids they can excel in anything with the right approach. The Shadowbox staff accepted no excuses, and cut the students no slack. They applied their own standards of performance to the student’s work – do your homework, learn the material, rehearse at full bore and perform without fear. In everything we do, we need to set the bar high and challenge students to meet it. Before and during the show, Metro students served as lighting, sound and backstage technicians alongside their mentors. The students also were called upon to perform all duties of a Shadowbox cast – manning the box office, seating the audience, and waiting on the tables.
The show was an undisputed success. The most common phrase on the comment cards that evening was “Awesome!” Students and parents both wanted to know “Can we do this again?”
Get to know the extraordinary kids who participated. The process of creating this event, from announcement to auditions, to rehearsals to backstage interviews was filmed and edited into a documentary that aired on Time Warner’s local on-demand channel. To watch the documentary, click here.
To watch clips of some of the individual performances from “Metro Rocks the ‘Box” click on the name below: