On Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 4 at 7 p.m. Robert Frost Auditorium will be lit up with song, dance and light when Culver City Middle School students treat the municipality to three performances of the Broadway musical: “Seussical” with music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, book by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens.
There will be three shows total, with a Saturday matinee at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door. Culver City Middle School’s production is different from all other middle school productions for several reasons. First, the show’s Co-Producer-Directors, Isabel Berliner, Celine Cuadra and Emily Wulf are 12-14 years old. Second, the crew, who has built its own sets, also created its own costumes. In addition, every member of the cast and the crew are of middle school age, 11-14.
Members of the AVPA Jazz Combo, former participants in this middle school program, provide the music, for the second year in a row. There’s no “teacher” teaching these students their craft; however, there is adult supervision only for safety concerns. In its third year, the students are learning every aspect of show production, from auditions to creative choices, to the marketing of the show and to hosting the community at Robert Frost on the weekend of May 3.
The idea began three years ago, when Culver City Middle School changed its bell schedule to include a 30-minute enrichment period, four times a week, for students to try their hand at everything from Student Court to Recycling Crew to Video Production and Editing, just to mention a few of the options. A group of students chose “School Performances” and the story goes on from there.
In the first year, students wrote, directed and produced an original dramatic production called, “Catching Butterflies” written by Sofia Frohna, a then 8th-grade-student at CCMS. Last year, current 9th-grade-student Mariko Rooks started by requesting $1,000 from the PTSA’s Gifted and Talented Education budget as a down payment on the rights to “Once on This Island.” She then continued to fundraise for the rest of all associated preproduction costs, marshaling the efforts of students from all grades at CCMS, and the first student-operated Broadway show was born.
This program has led the way for what is now a school wide enrichment and intervention program entitled, A.E.I.O.U. (Advisory-Enrichment-Intervention-Olweus: anti-bullying program) and Us.
Persons interested in finding out more about CCMS’s A.E.I.O.U program, please contact Ruth Morris, at ruthmorris@ccusd.org.
100 percent of the proceeds from the show will be reinvested into next year’s production. Ticket prices are $10 per person, all ages 4 and up. For tickets information, persons interested should e-mail ccmsperformances@yahoo.com. Interested parties can also send cash or a check for tickets to the attention of: CCMS Performances, Room 111, Culver City Middle School, 4601 Elenda St. Culver City, CA 90230. Please be sure to include name, and the number of tickets needed; tickets will also be available at the door, but priority seating will be offered for pre-payment.
