By Lily Mohrer
As many of you know, the 6th Grade Play is coming up soon, but what exactly is the play? Who’s directing it? Who’s starring? For answers to that and more, I interviewed Ms. Stephanie Stone, the theater and dance teacher in the middle and upper school.
She’s excited to be directing James and the Giant Peach, for her 30th year teaching at Fieldston. Her career teaching theater started when she was a senior here at ECFS, directing Free to Be You and Me, with 7th and 8th graders. As Ms. Stone has been performing since five years old, this show will surely leave us all stunned. “I think it’s about a little boy who, obviously, misses his mom and dad. But it’s about how he finds family in an unexpected place. The people who you consider family don’t need to be related to you,” shared Stone.
The journey to performance started last spring when Stone and Jon (the musical director, someone who teaches the cast all the songs for the play) started thinking about what show they wanted to teach that year. “I am looking for a show with a lot of parts for middle schoolers. Something they can relate to, not too babyish or too mature. And something we can pull off in a short amount of time, so only one act.” It’s finalized in summer when they apply for the rights and royalties.
“We just started the choreography and blocking [where and how the actors move around during scenes] which is really exciting.”
It will be at 7:00 pm after school on November 21! You can see it “right before your eyes,” marveling “as magic is on display.” I highly recommend attending, because from my conversation with Ms. Stone I can tell you that it will be a good one.
