Rising Stars at CHS
by Caroline Sekel
479/400 words
On Tuesday June 2, 2015, the Papermill Playhouse hosted its annual Rising Star Award Show. Modeled after Broadway’s Tony Awards, the Rising Stars reward exceptional accomplishments in New Jersey High School musical theater with presenters who were successful on Broadway or beyond. The award show was also broadcast live online and on local television.
Columbia High School (CHS) was nominated for 14 awards this year for its production of “Ragtime: School Edition”. CHS was among the schools with the most nominations; tied with West Orange High School with 14, only beaten by Union High School with 16.
The school’s production of Ragtime was nominated for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, Outstanding Performance by a Chorus, Outstanding Achievement by a Teacher or Outside Director, Outstanding Achievement in Musical Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and Staging, Outstanding Lighting Achievement, Outstanding Costuming Achievement, and Outstanding Hair & Make-Up Achievement.
In addition to school awards, many individuals were nominated as well. Ali Pease was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role for her part as “Mother”. Hannah Nye and Carolyn Leys were nominated for Featured Roles as “Evelyn Nesbit” and “Emma Goldman”. Isaiah Thomas received an Honorable Mention for Leading Role as “Coalhouse Walker Jr.” Ethan Gill was nominated for a Student Achievement Award as Assistant Technical Director.
CHS also was nominated for the Educational Impact Award, reflecting how CHS successfully connected the musical to the district’s curriculum, and used the production as a teaching tool for the greater student body and local community. Produced at time where the country was in turmoil over issues of race, class and justice, Ragtime served as a reflection of the world around it.
CHS walked away from the award show with three Rising Stars including the coveted award for Best Direction. Directors Tricia Benn and Bethany Pettigrew were elated with their victory. Ethan Gill and Aileen Sartori each received awards for the behind the scenes and technical production of the musical. Gill won the Student Achievement Award and Sartori was awarded The Paper Mill Playhouse Technical Theatre Scholarship.
All seven schools nominated for Outstanding Overall Production each performed a number from their musical. The cast of Ragtime performed the song “‘Till We Reach That Day” from the scene of Sarah’s funeral. Despite not taking home the award, the cast nailed their performance and the crowd loved it, giving them the only standing ovation of the night. "Getting a standing ovation for our performance was the only confirmation we needed that we put on a very impactful show that was more than worthy of the award for Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical" said Grant King, a member of Ragtime’s Harlem Ensemble.
Everyone in the cast and crew of Ragtime made CHS proud of its amazing theatrical and technical abilities. The Rising Star Awards are just proof of how much talent the students have at CHS.
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| CHS cast and crew of Ragtime: School Edition Image courtesy of thevillagegreen.com |
Future Hall of Famers
By Jennifer Katz
Word Count: 482/400
Columbia High School (CHS) fosters many talented youth. Recently, CHS students have seen much success through the use of soundcloud. Soundcloud is an online audio distribution platform that enables users to record, upload, promote, and share their originally created sounds.
Mia Gladstone, ‘17, has been playing piano since the age of 7 and has recently become more motivated to pursue music as a career. Gladstone's career made headway when she was in eighth grade after an artists and repertoire (A&R) at Roc Nation showed interest in her music. Within the last year, she started frequently writing and releasing music. She uses her social media applications such as Youtube, Soundcloud, and Vine to share her music.
On May 28 of this year, she released the first single off her debut extended play (EP), “Separation,” onto Soundcloud. An EP is a musical recording that contains a small amount of songs, shorter than a full studio album but more than just a single. Within the fifteen days since its release, she has already accumulated over 1,500 plays. Gladstone describes “Separation:” “The song is about me wanting to be recognized for my work, not for associating with successful people.” The beat of the track was sent to her by Fresco Stevens, a rapper/producer who she has collaborated with in the past.
Gladstone plans to take a gap year after high school, dedicated to progressing her music and finishing an album. “College doesn’t seem likely at this point because I don’t see it as a necessary part of succeeding in the music industry, but I’ll take business classes so that I’m aware of my publishing rights and different ways to promote myself.”
On May 28 of this year, she released the first single off her debut extended play (EP), “Separation,” onto Soundcloud. An EP is a musical recording that contains a small amount of songs, shorter than a full studio album but more than just a single. Within the fifteen days since its release, she has already accumulated over 1,500 plays. Gladstone describes “Separation:” “The song is about me wanting to be recognized for my work, not for associating with successful people.” The beat of the track was sent to her by Fresco Stevens, a rapper/producer who she has collaborated with in the past.
Gladstone plans to take a gap year after high school, dedicated to progressing her music and finishing an album. “College doesn’t seem likely at this point because I don’t see it as a necessary part of succeeding in the music industry, but I’ll take business classes so that I’m aware of my publishing rights and different ways to promote myself.”
Similarly, a group of four CHS students, known as "Parker 4ve" released an EP on May 30 consisting of seven tracks. Parker 4ve includes of Autumn Jones, Isaiah Thomas, Aanu Fawole, and Aleiyia Brown, who are all members of CHS’ A Cappella group as well as several other singing groups.
Thomas, ‘16, says, “I was showing Aleiyia few songs that I personally wrote like ‘Hello’ on my computer. I was also showing her the software and she said she wanted to make a song so we knocked out ‘Forever’ in like four hours total. Then we decided to add Aanu and Autumn and it just blossomed from there.”
The songs include layered harmonies that required a process to put together. Thomas would record the music and create the instrumental and the person singing solo would record their part. Then they collectively decided what were the best spots to harmonize. Thomas would give each person their harmony and “have them layer each part for a fuller sound.” He adjusted the levels of the vocals so that they “meld together better.”
After receiving positive feedback and gaining a following, Parker 4ve hopes to “have even more listeners and followers” and are already working on another album.
Thomas, ‘16, says, “I was showing Aleiyia few songs that I personally wrote like ‘Hello’ on my computer. I was also showing her the software and she said she wanted to make a song so we knocked out ‘Forever’ in like four hours total. Then we decided to add Aanu and Autumn and it just blossomed from there.”
The songs include layered harmonies that required a process to put together. Thomas would record the music and create the instrumental and the person singing solo would record their part. Then they collectively decided what were the best spots to harmonize. Thomas would give each person their harmony and “have them layer each part for a fuller sound.” He adjusted the levels of the vocals so that they “meld together better.”
After receiving positive feedback and gaining a following, Parker 4ve hopes to “have even more listeners and followers” and are already working on another album.
To see more of Gladstone and Parker 4ve’s work:
Cover art for the artists' music.
Image courtesy of soundcloud.com
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