Category Archives: Drama

The Chaminade Players present The Addams Family

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Addams-FamilyThe award-winning drama troupe, The Chaminade Players, present The Addams Family musical, opening March 4 in the Tutor Family Center for the Performing Arts on the West Hills campus.

“The Addams Family musical has something for everyone – comedy, drama, romance even an ensemble of walking dead!” says Yvette Lawrence Bishop, director of drama and performing arts. “It has been such a joy rediscovering the lovable Addams clan and bringing them into the 21st century. This company is perfection and the show is a must-see.”

The production runs March 4, 5, 11 and 12, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances take place on March 6 and 13, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and may be purchased online at www.chaminadeplayers.org.

Helmed by an all-star creative team, The Addams Family features an original story, and it’s every father’s nightmare, says Bishop, a Broadway veteran best known for playing Belle in the longstanding Los Angeles company of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. With Bishop directing the musical, other creative team members include choreographer Bill Burns; music director Dan Redfeld; Ovation Award-winning set designer Jeff McLaughlin, and technical director Mike Davis.

“We are incredibly blessed and proud to bring together these resources on the Chaminade West Hills campus to empower our students to create art of the highest caliber,” Bishop added.

With the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, The Addams Family is based on characters created by Charles Addams.

“Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family – a man her parents have never met,” Bishop says. “And if that weren’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before – keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s ‘normal’ boyfriend and his parents.”

The Addams Family comes on the heels of The Chaminade Players’ successful 2015 season, during which they won “Best Musical,” (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), “Best Supporting Actor” (Gaston) and “Best Supporting Actress” (Mrs. Potts) at the Jerry Herman Awards for Los Angeles-area high school musical theatre at The Pantages in Hollywood. Additionally, Brianna Bryan ’15 was selected to compete in New York City at the Jimmy Awards, the national high school musical theatre competition.

Chaminade College Preparatory is a Catholic school in the Marianist tradition. For more information, visit www.chaminade.org.

Please join us on November 15

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We love visitors at Chaminade College Preparatory, but one of the best days to stop by our campus if you’re a family interested in the 2016-2017 admission season is our Open House on Sunday, November 15. It is the perfect day to learn about the lifelong benefits of a cutting-edge, 21st Century, Catholic education:

  • Take a tour of our amazing facilities
  • Meet our teachers and students
  • Learn about our One-to-One Student Tablet PC Program
  • Visit academic departments and learn about our curriculum
  • Explore our arts and athletics programs
  • Talk to admissions and financial aid representatives
  • Come see what we’re all about

Open House coincides with our fall production season, and our middle school and high school programs will each feature special performances during the day. At 1:00 p.m., on the Marilyn Simons Stage of the Tutor Center (West Hills), our high school students will put on a special performance of You Can’t Take it With You. Guests may drop-in anytime during Open House and are welcome to join a Q & A after the show. Then at 3:00 p.m., Chaminade’s middle school students will proudly present Singin’ in the Rain in the Fr. Allen DeLong Center for Arts and Athletics (Chatsworth).

Chaminade Celebrates Fine Arts Family Spirit Night

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By Jennifer Bader P ’18

On Friday, February 13 the Chaminade middle school and high school fine arts departments joined together to showcase their talented students at the first ever Fine Arts Family Spirit Night.

More than 100 students from drama, band, choir, dance, and aerial performed before a sold out crowd at the Tutor Family Center for the Performing Arts. Audience members were also treated to screenings of student films and displays of art work. Alex Mansour ’15 and Hiba Alnajjar ’19 served as emcees for the evening.

Chaminade Fine Arts has much to celebrate in the coming weeks. The annual Film Festival will be held Saturday, February 21. In March, the Eagle Regiment Band will be traveling to Spain to perform in an international music festival, and the middle school C-Notes will be travelling to New York City for the third time to perform at Carnegie Hall as the featured choir. The Chaminade Players will also be presenting Disney’s Beauty and the Beast March 13 through 15 and March 20 through 22.

Visit Chaminade’s Facebook page to view more photos.

Chaminade Drama Goes to DTASC!

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Last weekend, more than 2,000 students from 70 schools participated in the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California (DTASC) Fall Festival at Temecula Valley High School in Temecula, California. Chaminade’s high school drama students from performed in six out of a possible eight categories. DTASC is a student driven competition, with the drama director serving as coach/advisor as students direct their fellow students in timed scenes following specific guidelines.

All students perform their scenes for judges in two rounds before cuts begin. All of Chaminade’s scenes moved on to semi-finals, three of which moved on to the final round receiving the following awards:

  • Second place trophy in the Large Open Drama category for a scene from Warhorse directed by and featuring Hannah Ponturo ’15 and Thomas Kuklenski ’16, with Samantha Bloomfield ’18, Brandon Marsh ’16, Christian Puente-Ortiz ’17, Jonah Warschaw ’16.
  • Honorable Mention in the Play of Social Conscience category for a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest directed by and featuring Maeve Martinez ’16, with Joe Gutesha ’17, William Rose-Hines ’18, Ryan Town ’16.
  • Honorable Mention plaque in the More Than a Narrator category for a scene from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland directed by and featuring Daisy Bishop ’17, with Gracie Jurczyk ’17, Nora Rose-Hines ’18, Bella Torres ’17.
  • Shout out for Audition Monologue went to Charlotte Powers ’17; Theme Collage Musical directed by and featuring Brianna Bryan ’15, Lily Khalighi ’16, with Amanda Drewes ’17, Ian Home ’16, Alejandro Navarro ’16, Zoie Tannous ’16, Dominic Torquato ’15; and Large Open Comedy directed by and featuring Matt Masino ’15, with Mark Diaz ’18, Lauren Nwajei ’16, Mary Reynosa ’17, Natalie Rowland ’17, and Sam Yu ’16 – our semi-finalists!

Chaminade Players stage management team members Lindsay Holcomb ’15, Rebecca Gerny ’16, and Thomas Martin ’17 served as room chairs for the competition, maintaining rules and timing scenes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drama Students Compete in Drama Teachers of Southern California Fall Festival

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DTASC group photoOn October 26, Chaminade College Preparatory high school drama students competed in the Drama Teachers of Southern California Fall Festival (DTASC). They competed against 76 high schools in Southern California and placed fifth in the Open Musical category; were Semi-Finalist in Audition Monologues; and Semi-Finalist in AFI Top 100 Screenplays. Congratulations to the Chaminade DTASC team!