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The PosTscriPT November 26, 2013 The Park School of BalTimore | 2425 old courT road, BalTimore, md 21208 Volume 74 Issue No.3 In the Heights, the theater dept.’s fall production, drew on a wide variety of student talent, spicing up a typical musical with a unique cultural twist. J. Walker ’14 as Usnavi leads the opening number (above); seniors G. Reamer as Carla and R. Shapiro as Daniela gossip in their local salon. ‘Heights’ cooks up a bit of Latin flavor by Baylor Knobloch ’14 and a front stoop. “There is an actual intersection in Washington Heights What would you do with $96,000? This is the question that this set is specifically modeled off of,” said Drew that a group of neighbors faces in Lin-Manuel Miranda Himmelrich ’14, who has impressively taken on the roles and Quiara Aelgría Hudes’s Broadway musical In the of stage manager, lighting designer, and set designer, photos by B. Knobloch ’14 Heights, a story of power outages, coffee with cream, jobs which are typically filled by three different people. Along with the music are dance numbers, of which gossip sessions, fireworks, and young love. “That’s never happened before,” set design teacher John there are many. “The show is unique because there is so The story takes place over the course of three days Trout said of Himmelrich’s ambition. “Physically, in much student choreography,” co-choreographer Rebecca on a single city intersection in Washington Heights, NY. terms of space and height, it’s the largest set we’ve done Shapiro ’14 said. Shapiro and Elana Liebow-Feeser ’14 But everything gets turned upside down when Abuela in my time here.” got right down to work in the summer, when they took Claudia finds herself with the winning lottery ticket, and During the show, the barrio intersection bustles with classes in salsa, Zumba, and reggaeton, a Latin-style getting out of Washington Heights is suddenly closer hip-hop face-offs, Caribbean flair, sexual tension, Span- hip-hop. than ever before. ish slang, and fiery club dancing. Making the magic hap- “Rebecca and Elana had the energy from the summer,” Casually referred to as the barrio (Spanish for “neigh- pen down in the orchestra pit is US music teacher Adele said MS Spanish teacher Di Bobrow, a native Puerto borhood”), Washington Heights is a predominantly La- Dinerstein on keyboard, MS music teacher Maeve Royce Rican who worked with the cast as a cultural coach, tino area north of Harlem, where Spanglish is the norm on bass, student guitarists Baird Acheson ’15 and Evan weighing in on accents, attitudes, and dance moves. Full and the streets corners are never quiet. The theater’s Semenza ’14, and a host of musicians brought in from of hip thrusts, high claps, lingering eyes, and tapping feet, stage was entirely transformed into an urban intersec- outside of school. “This show is a good 80% music— the ensemble dances don’t disappoint. tion, marked by a salon, a corner store, a car service, maybe even more,” Dinerstein said. Heights continued p. 7 Hunting bravely through a ‘wilderness of books’ by Phillip Merrick ‘15 a Wall of Fame for successful O-Rama mascot, the cat: stalk with a paw-print stamp. Good children and say, ‘Now, you must browsers. On their visits to the slowly and quietly through the browsing behavior is “when do this, and you must do that’— Lamenting the loss of the art library, Lower School classes bookshelves, pounce on and ex- kids feel successful about being it’s like telling them to eat their of browsing, the Lower School enjoy special exercises in which plore books that look good, and brave and exploring the different vegetables.” library has launched a new initia- they learn skills like taking time finally curl up and purr with the books,” George said, “because The Browse-O-Rama isn’t tive to get it back. The Browse- to really look through a book or right book. The Browse-O-Ra- it’s hard to go in there and face exclusive to the Lower School; O-Rama, begun this month, is an how to properly judge a book by ma motto is: “Sink your claws a shelf of books and not know parents, faculty, and older stu- effort by librarians Laura Schlitz its cover. into the best book you’ve never how to go about finding them.” dents are all encouraged to get and Twig George to teach young “The art of browsing,” said read!” So why such a big fuss? “We in on the action. students how to find the right li- Schlitz, the librarian for grades When children exhibit good thought we should do this in as In a letter to Lower School brary book, and it’s a big deal. 3-5, “has to do with being able browsing behavior, they are re- silly a way as we can,” Schlitz parents, Schlitz and George Lasting until the end of No- to go into a kind of wilderness warded with face paint on their said, “because what we’re af- urged them to “model browsing vember, or maybe longer, this of books and find the one that eyebrows (so they can say, “I ter is something that I think is behaviors. Tell your child how event is complete with book- you want.” Children are encour- browse!”), or get to sign their important, but the last thing we you pick your books. Do some marks, stamps, face paint, and aged to behave like the Browse- name on the Wall of Fame along want is to stand up in front of side-by-side browsing.” Browsing continued p. 5 Lower School Librarian Twig George guides second graders through a lesson in judging a book by its cov- er during the month-long Browse-o-Rama. The new initiative, created by George and Librarian Laura Schlitz, is an effort to spark brows- ing behavior in children. photos by S. Weintraub Editorial The PosTscriPT, November 26, 2013 2 Spotlight on Drew We don’t normally do this. We don’t “That was my beach book.” normally use this space to talk about a And if that’s not enough to melt your specific person, to paint a picture of praise heart, then consider a day in the life: Drew or sing a sweet serenade. started designing the set this past summer, But Park doesn’t normally have a kid when he and John Trout exchanged count- like Drew Himmelrich ’14. less emails of Google sketches. “I work This issue, the editorial staff was tied for Drew right now,” Trout said. “I’ve up with In the Heights—an interlude that gotten used to it over the past two years.” we like to think of as a passionate, roman- Starting off the year with a vision for tic affair in the midst of our marriage to the set, Drew got down to work on every- the paper. No matter how late we were thing Heights. He used his independent at school, running back and forth between study, a science concentration in statics cartoon by Jessie Lamworth ’14 the publications office and the theater, the and suspension, to engineer the functional tech crew always stayed later. It was nice fire escape used in the show, and his free Letters to the editors to have another group to go visit, their block to perfect the set. company making the dark halls a little During the musical’s in-school class, ‘Rightsizing’ affects more than classroom teachers less daunting, and the pizza dinners a little he worked as the production’s manager, specialists, thus impacting their full-time more entertaining. keeping student actors in the loop and giv- Thank you for the coverage in the employment. Drew, their fearless leader, was more ing his input to director Peter King and November 8 Postscript of the issues The administration has made efforts to involved in the show than any of us can music director Adele Dinerstein, putting concerning the Lower School and “right- continue to offer full-time status by allow- imagine. Every day we are amazed at how his beach book knowledge into action. sizing.” Although your coverage was ing specialists affected by “right-sizing” much he does. Yes, there are the titles: After school, Drew attended the daily quite good, you failed to point out the to teach cross-divisionally. This has not set designer, lighting designer, and stage afternoon rehearsals, calling out scene impact of the reduction of classes on the always resolved the problem. manager—roles that are usually given to numbers and keeping everyone in line, full-time status of lower elementary teach- Next year the impact of the reduction three different people, entailing an absurd all while programming the show’s lights ers in special areas of music and visual of class sizes reaches 4th grade (most amount of work. and overseeing the set’s construction. art. I am unsure of the effect on sched- likely) affecting the upper elementary But more notable is his personal invest- After leaving school, the production ules of the other special areas—Spanish, specialists’ schedules. ment in the show, his passion for the pro- didn’t end for him—in his “free” time, PE, and library. As the number of classes duction and obsession with every single he updated a website that highlights the at each grade level has decreased, so has —Bruce Bryant, Lower School Music aspect of it. “If I could say anything to process of the school’s production of the the contact time for the lower elementary Lin-Manuel Miranda, I would tell him show.

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