TeenWrites: Change

Madison Performances

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:32:00 +0000

Here are two new videos from our performances in Madison in the studio theatre of the Overture Center!

The first video is “Our Secret” and the second is the finale song (with both US and our UK counterparts) “Now I know”.

Enjoy!

Requested song…

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:58:50 +0000

In reaction to some requests by several readers I am trying to post items from the performances. Below is a song that was created and recorded in England during the fall exchange involving TeenWrites- and because of it’s theme (war) we were able to use it in the spring performance. During the show this was a movement piece with projected images of war.

Enjoy!

Act Two show stopper

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:49:10 +0000

If you weren’t already convinced about coming to see Teenwrites tonight, here’s a clip of the opening of Act Two opener, “New You”. Lyrics were written by an 8th grade student at Morgandale School in Milwaukee, and composed by our music director Tom Jacobsen.

Between the jazz hands, the tapping and the fantastic addition of the jazz band- this song rocks!

Come see the show tonight at 7:00 p.m.!

Last chance to see an original international musical!

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:54:42 +0000

Friday night was opening night and not only did we completely fill the house of 165- but we had to turn people away! The audience was fantastic- excited and supportive and the kids were absolutely brilliant. Everything came really together and it was amazing to see the work of over a year and a half finally come to fruition.

If you didn’t see it last night you can still see the complete show tonight, Saturday at Milwaukee High School of the Arts at 7:00 p.m. Make sure to get there early to get tickets- you do NOT want to miss this show!

On Sunday Teenwrites will hit the road and take a bus up to Madison to perform in the Overture Center. It’s still to be determined if the performance will happen in the Rotunda or a studio theatre just off of the Rotunda, so look for signs. We will only perform 45 minutes of the show, but it is sure to be an exciting event.

Hope to see you all there!

It’s Showtime!!

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:29:53 +0000

The day has finally come. Tonight is Opening Night for TeenWrites! Over the last week students, directors, musicians and crew have been working long hard hours to put all of the pieces together for the performances of this nearly two year project. From it’s initial inception to the final product this weekend- this piece has come a very long way.

Here’s the info if you want to see it this weekend:

Where: Milwaukee High School of the Arts Mainstage Theatre
2300 W. Highland Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233

When: Friday April 16th 7:00 pm
Saturday April 17th 7:00 pm

Cost: $4 for students, $6 for adults (you can purchase your tickets at
the door)

Come support the arts in education!

The lull before the storm…

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:47:15 +0000

Individual rehearsals in both England and the U.S. finished up quite well for our final days of rehearsal. The U.S. students are currently on spring break relaxing and anticipating the arrival of their UK cohorts this coming Wednesday.

This friday will be our “integration” rehearsal where we will share our work with each other and start to find the ways to fit everything together.

This also means that the countdown to show time has officially begun. We are now within four total rehearsals before our first performance NEXT Thursday April 15th at 10:00 a.m. (Performances for the public will be April 16th and 17th at 7:00 p.m. in MHSA’s mainstage theatre.)

Since there won’t be much to report until this Friday’s rehearsal, click here to check out this great new article at Milwaukee Courier Online!

Using every spare minute…

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:17:04 +0000

We are now within the last few days of our rehearsal process- which is both an exciting and somewhat terrifying prospect. This week we have been able to stumble through our show, as well as begin the polishing process on some of the choreography. Here are the latest videos of both “Schoolboy” and “New You”. We’ve added some background choreography to “New You” which really enhances the dance break.

Tuesday we were able to rehearse on our fancy new set which meant adjusting some staging to include our 8 foot platform and time up and down the large staircase. Although the set still needs to be painted- here are some of our stage crew members (including our super stage manager, Sydonia and TeenWrites and MHSA alum Jacob Franklin) working on the set.

Thursday will be our last rehearsal before we begin to blend our work with the Brits work. Our cast is eagerly awaiting their arrival next week- where we will begin the sharing process.

Crunch time…

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:19:16 +0000

Friday’s FIVE hour long rehearsal was exactly what was needed to finish staging all of the stories, poems and raps AND our finale song, “Now I know”.

Starting Monday we will begin rehearsing until 7:00 and we will finally be able to rehearse on our fancy new set! Here are videos of the remaining stories:

And last but not least, here is our staging for our finale number, “Now I know.” Each of the students present on the set has a partner that will mirror their movements once we are able to rehearse as a FULL cast.

Endings…

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:33:58 +0000

Thursday’s rehearsal included rehearsing and reviewing choreography and we were able to completely finish “New You”. Here is the video:

The choreography for “Butterfly” is going to be a point solo done by Becky. Here she marks through the piece while Elora sings along:

The choreography is nearly complete for “Our Secret”. Here is the newest video:

Lastly we did a rough staging of “Demon/Angel”. Here is the video:

Our set is NEARLY complete and we will be able to begin rehearsals on it starting Monday. Because of the limits on our flickr account photos will not be available until April 1st. However, just know that it looks awesome.

Review.

milwaukeehighschoolofthearts — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:38:13 +0000

Wednesday’s rehearsal was a lot of reviewing and refinishing for the dances we have completely learned including “Schoolboy” and “Set things right”. We also worked on and nearly finished “Kaleidoscope”, “Our Secret” and “New You”.

Here is a video of more of the tapping from “New you”:

The seniors also finished creating the mini stories about the themes “High school” and the “Future”. I think I can go ahead and assume that the frozen story they created about robots taking over was probably their favorite. Here it is below:

Get the rest of our rehearsal photos by clicking here.