Have You Ever Wanted MIS To Do a Broadway Level Musical? Well, We Have the Solution!

By Luca B and Elke F, Grade 10

Lately the plays at our school have been… a bit questionable. You’ve probably heard or seen of some of the last few plays our Senior School has put on for us. Maybe you’ve even participated in them. Now there is nothing more fun than watching a good musical or laughing with your friends during pre-production of a school play. But one of the biggest decision makers for if people are going to watch your production or participate in it, lies in the hands of the play itself. You might be thinking to yourself, why hasn’t the school produced more well-known plays? Coincidentally, we were thinking the exact same thing, and that’s why we went out of our way to find an answer for this and finally find a solution.

Firstly, we interviewed some of the students who had never been in any school plays but have been on the sidelines watching their peers perform from the stands. 

“I thought the previous plays were a bit random,” Juliette D., grade 11 said.

We heard this from many people when interviewing. One of our questions was, “Why do you think people aren’t going to watch the plays?”, and this answer came up from pretty much every student we interviewed when asking this question. Similarly, when we asked, “In what circumstances would you join an MIS production?”, 

“I would do the play if it was something I knew and was really interested in, maybe an iconic movie or musical that was on Broadway,” Anintika B., grade 10, said.

So why haven’t we been able to do more “iconic” plays or musicals?

Ms Rizzo, Middle School Drama teacher and current co-director of the Middle School play, gave some interesting perspectives on what is happening with the school plays. It’s not easy as it looks to put a school play together. 

“It’s important to understand that the after-school activities are strictly budgeted. So, we only have a certain amount that we can spend on things. We don’t really have much of a budget for things like costumes,” Ms Rizzo said.

However, there is also a solution which results in a win for everyone. 

“One way to help, is to fundraise for rights,” Ms Rizzo explained. 

This is a great solution which would involve students to take initiative and fundraise for upcoming plays.

Ms Rizzo also explained how the Middle School could have a big influence in the Senior School. 

“I know in the Middle School right now, there’s a huge interest in performance. If we can continue to keep that love of performance in them and encourage and provide them with fun opportunities, they’ll bring that into the Senior School. It’s not like a quick fix, but in my mind that’s the best way to do it,” Ms Rizzo said.

Senior School Drama teacher Ms Markthaler pointed out another problem: “We would need two after school activity semesters to produce a play or musical of that capacity”, referring to High School Musical, an example we gave her.

However, when we asked students whether they would be open to commit to doing two semesters of the play, 9 out of 10 said that they would. 

So, if we fundraise for a better budget, and convince the Student Life Program to give us two semesters to do a school play, we can do plays or musicals as popular as: Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, Mamma Mia, High School Musical, The Grinch, Elf, and The Addams Family.