{"id":10862,"date":"2023-03-29T14:50:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T18:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10862"},"modified":"2023-03-30T11:28:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T15:28:32","slug":"salem-highs-musical-unmuted-earns-lead-role-at-state-theatre-festival-wins-first-championship-in-school-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/salem-highs-musical-unmuted-earns-lead-role-at-state-theatre-festival-wins-first-championship-in-school-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Salem High’s musical, \u2018Unmuted,\u2019 earns \u2018lead role\u2019 at state theatre festival, wins first championship in school history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 <\/p>\n

– by Svetla Tomanova<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the pandemic, theatre came to a standstill. Then it made way for many \u201cZoom plays\u201d and \u201cZoom musicals\u201d to be written out of necessity, as was the case with \u201cUnmuted.\u201d Live theater is back and, \u201cThe show must go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of March, Salem High School competed with three other schools at the Virginia High School League (VHSL) One-Act Festival in Charlottsville.<\/p>\n

Salem\u2019s act was unique in several ways: the only school that brought a musical, it was the first time Salem presented a musical for the Theatre Festival, and the first time Salem won the state championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe act was powerful and performed in a way that could tap into the audiences\u2019 emotions as we all lived that virtual experience,\u201d said Salem Principal Leeane Turnbull. \u201cI am proud of the risk Ms. Vogt took and how this production showcased not only the talents of our students, but also reminded us of their resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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photo by Liam Castellano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Salem\u2019s team consisted of 21 participants: eight were cast members and 13 were on the production team. They won first place at Sectionals and went on to win the 5A Regional Championship, which secured their spot at the VHSL 5A State Theatre Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were ranked first place unanimously by all four judges,\u201d said Christa Vogt, theatre teacher at Salem\u2019s Visual and Performing Arts Academy.<\/p>\n

One of the judges even gave them a perfect score of 100. Another one said, \u201cTake this show on the road!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnmuted,\u201d written by Alvaro Saar Rios with music and lyrics by Deborah Wick La Puma, is a show ultimately about survival. It pokes fun of what we had to do to stay relevant and engaged in order to survive the 2020-21 school year, said Vogt. It is a cathartic spoof of the harsh realities that we lived just a few years ago. Live theatre is back, and it is healing to make fun of ourselves with respect and love, she added.<\/p>\n

It was composed during the height of the pandemic to be performed as a virtual musical by middle school students on Zoom. It is set during gym class where the substitute teacher \u201cgets dropped off the call.\u201d The students celebrate their \u201cZoom freedom\u201d and play virtual \u201cSecret or Dare.\u201d They bond over class time and ultimately share that they miss school, \u201creal school.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show closes with a heartfelt song (performed with an intentional ebb and flow of levity) about all the everyday things they miss about \u201creal school.\u201d They miss moving desks for projects, riding the bus, raising their real hand, having a snow day, sharing a pencil and calling their teacher \u201cmom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing \u201cUnmuted\u201d to the stage did not take a long time. Vogt held auditions around Thanksgiving and rehearsals the first week of December.<\/p>\n

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This photo shows the characters in mid-play of an innocent game of “Secret or Dare.” (photo by Liam Castellano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Salem\u2019s team used their creativity to comedically shift the performance from virtual to live. The prop manager, Phaedra Diacopoulos, created the\u00a0 “Zoom squares.\u201d The effect was quite funny to see characters moving around with a black square frame attached to them, said Vogt. Another one of their\u00a0 adaptions was the “screen sharing.” They simply had a crew member walking onstage and holding the images that were being \u201cscreen-shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many theatre artists and educators did what we had to do to adapt to the world shutting down,\u201d said Vogt, an originator of the idea for the \u201cZoom squares.\u201d<\/p>\n

The choreography was unique too, according to Melaina Robinson, assistant stage manager.<\/p>\n

“The story was relatable and the way the cast portrayed the characters \u2014 they turned a depressing situation into something I can laugh at,\u201d said Mina Petromanolakis, crew member, grade 10.<\/p>\n

According to another cast member, Evie Lewis, they won because they came with something fresh, had energy and trusted the process and themselves. Jianna Thompson, a stage manager in grade 10, will cherish this moment for a very long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won because we didn’t think we were going to win,\u201d said Caleigh Howell, cast member, grade 11. \u201cMrs. Vogt hit the nail on the head by picking something we all could relate to and laugh at.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play incorporated a couple of the \u201cZoom school\u201d elements into the costume design \u2013 all the characters wore pajama pants and T-shirts with messages such as \u201cJust Breathe,\u201d \u201cChin Up,\u201d \u201cStay Positive,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Give Up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so proud of everybody, and it was one of the most exciting days of my entire life,” said Jasmine Thomas, cast member, grade 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a great feeling to make history,” Isaiah Bolden, costume manager in grade 9 remarked on this accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Indeed Salem made history: This was the second VHSL State Theatre win for our division \u2013 the first time was in 1989 by First Colonial High School. Keep an eye out for more great performances from Salem High: “Acting I: Evening of Shorts” (April 26-27), \u201c24-Hour Theatre Festival\u201d (April 29), as well as the senior class’s \u201cFringe Festival\u201d in May.<\/p>\n

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Cast members of Salem High School’s production of “Unmuted” include, seated-front row-from left: Sophia Heinbach, Sam Turner, Maggie Bee, Jasmine Thomas; standing- top row-from left:: Savannah Coulter, Caleigh Howell, Evie Lewis, Crystal Chambers. In the play, Jasmine’s character mutes everyone and takes control of the Zoom call. (photo by Liam Castellano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  – by Svetla Tomanova At the beginning of the pandemic, theatre came to a standstill. Then it made way for many \u201cZoom plays\u201d and \u201cZoom musicals\u201d to be written […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10862"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10875,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10862\/revisions\/10875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}