The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

Theater department opens “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

Cast and crew members of this year's winter musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" share their perspectives on the production process.

Davis Marks and Everett Lakey
February 7, 2024

Walking to rehearsal while attending a summer theatre program, Elise Fried ’24 and Anna Ames ’24 eagerly discussed their favorite Broadway shows. With their senior year approaching, Fried and Ames...

Give equal credit to extracurricular activities

Hannah Shahidi, Assistant News Editor
September 21, 2023

While working on tech crew for "Urinetown," the musical from last spring, I found myself incredibly overwhelmed with approaching assessments in my classes. I was trying to manage my time productively and...

Theater the wright way

Jina Jeon
May 29, 2022

The school will hold its annual Playwrights Festival in Rugby Theater on May 26 and 27. The event will feature 14 student-written plays across two nights, with seven plays per night. The Playwrights Festival...

A Controversial Awakening

The cast members of “Spring Awakening” discuss its controversial material in anticipation of its opening night.

Georgia Goldberg, Assistant A&E Editor
February 17, 2022

Gisele Stigi '22 gasped as a blue notification darted across her screen in late august of 2021, accompanied by an email announcing her senior year musical. Her jaw dropped as she read the title, "Spring...

Fall Play: ‘JB’

James Hess and Natasha Speiss
November 17, 2021

The upper school Performing Arts Department opened the fall play, “J.B.,” to audiences in Rugby Theater on Oct. 29, 30 and 31. The show marked the first large-scale in-person Performing...

Improv group hosts online performance event

Natalie Cosgrove
March 21, 2021

The upper school improv group hosted an event on Zoom, where students from the group displayed their improvisation skills through a series of games and scenes based on suggestions from the audience, March...

HW Project released for students and faculty

Sydney Fener
February 9, 2021

The HW Project, a multimedia production including over 23 separate student works, premiered Jan. 22 on Vimeo in place of the regular fall play. Upper School Performing Arts Technical Director and...

Students to act in “Into the Woods”

Sarah Reiff
August 28, 2019

“[The musical] is able to tell an abundance of very important life morals in such a short amount of time.” - Alexandra du Manoir '21 The Performing Arts department plans to stage the musical “Into...

Play-ing for Progress

Annie Beckman
March 1, 2019

Students performed a redesigned version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Feb. 8-10 including LGBTQ characters. In directing the show, performing arts teacher Rees Pugh decided...

The men and women in black

Aaron Park
November 29, 2016

The lights in Rugby theater dimmed, and the applauding crowd quieted in anticipation. "Turn the house off, please," Savannah Weinstock ’18 said, "standby six. Go six." From high above the stage, the...

Vive la Révolution!

Josie Abugov
November 29, 2016

After almost two months of preparation, the Upper School Performing Arts Department showcased four performances of Les Miserables on Nov. 3, 4, 5 and 6. The cast of 44 told a story of interconnected characters...