Arts News

As You Like It photo gallery

Submitted by Karen Katz on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 2:10pm

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Middle and Upper School production

Catlin Gabel students were part of a collaboration in which Portland Playhouse partnered with seven area high schools to produce a different Shakespeare play at each school. These images were shot at the dress rehearsal.

Seven schools take part in Shakespeare collaboration

Submitted by Karen Katz on Wed, 09/29/2010 - 12:31pm

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Catlin Gabel students have been part of a collaboration in which Portland Playhouse is partnering with seven area high schools to produce a different Shakespeare play at each school. These plays will be performed first at each individual high school, and then all will come together at Portland’s Winningstad Theatre for a three-day Fall Festival of Shakespeare.

Come see the Catlin Gabel cast in As You Like It on October 29 and 30 at 7 p.m. in the Cabell Center Theater. And save the date to see their stage debut at the Winningstad Theatre on Sunday, November 7, at 4 p.m. (the curtain time has been changed since earlier reports). Tickets for the Catlin Gabel performances are available at the door: $5 general admission, $3 for students.

The collaborating high schools are Catlin Gabel, Lincoln, Jefferson, Hudson's Bay, Fort Vancouver, Cleveland, and De La Salle. Catlin Gabel is the only participating school to include Middle School students in its production.

“This is a thrilling opportunity for our students. They are meeting student actors from all over the city while delving into Shakespeare’s words,” said drama teacher Deirdre Atkinson. “Our students are building cross-divisional relationships and collaborating across disciplines: in addition to acting, the students are designing and building sets and costumes, composing original music, managing props, and generating publicity. I’m personally excited because experienced student actors are working with actors with no prior experience with Catlin Gabel’s theater program. This project allows us to develop community in the most creative of ways!”

The students have enjoyed meeting and training with actors from other schools. They have also benefited from working with professional artists who provided outside perspectives and experience in the process of producing a play. In preparation for leading this collaboration, Deirdre and her co-director, Gavin Hoffman from Portland Playhouse, trained with Kevin Coleman, the Shakespeare and Company education director. The rehearsal process incorporated techniques and exercises employed by professional companies, which enriched our students’ understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s works.

From the Portland Playhouse website: The Festival is a spectacular theatrical event, in part because student actors connect well to Shakespeare; they get the passion, large stakes, disaster. . . . high school is not unlike an Elizabethan tragedy. But the biggest surprise is the creation of an electric and fully engaged audience during the Festival. This Festival audience (imagine 330 Shakespeare-saturated teenagers packing the Winningstad) is the most active and alive theatre audience you will ever encounter. They “oooh” and “ahhh;” call out "Oh no she didn't;" scream and laugh. It's the closest thing we have to how an Elizabethan audience at Shakespeare’s Globe might have reacted. It’s an unforgettable experience for the students involved, and an engaging cultural phenomenon for everyone to witness.

Tickets for the Winningstad performance are available at the Portland Center for Performing Arts box office or online through Ticketmaster. Ticket Prices: Regular: $10 Students: $8

** Ticket charges at the PCPA box office are $3.25 per ticket. Location: 1111 SW Broadway, Portland. Hours: Mon-Sat 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

** Ticketmaster charges are between $4 and $8 per ticket (depending on quantity of order)

Ted Case '10 to tour with 2010 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 11:05am

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Oregonian article, June 2010

Upper School play: "The Women" photo gallery

Submitted by Karen Katz on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 3:47pm

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Senior Lucy Feldman directed Clare Boothe Luce's 1936 play about wealthy New York women. The comedy-drama explores family life, divorce, friendship, and cattiness.

Support the Catlin Gabel Difference

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 3:42pm

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Teachers speak about our distinctive programs

From the Winter 2010 Caller

The programs here embody Catlin Gabel’s uniqueness. These important offerings advance the mission of the school by continually reinforcing and refining the notion of progressive education. The teachers quoted here highlight what makes these programs exceptional and what they contribute to a Catlin Gabel education.

Robotics
By Dale Yocum, Middle & Upper School robotics program director

Catlin Gabel’s robotics program gives students experience with hands-on engineering. More important than that, it is an opportunity to work together as a team accomplishing an impossible goal in a time too short and with a budget too small, just like the real world. Our robotics team is the most decorated in Oregon, advancing to the world championships the last three years in a row. Our membership continues to grow, with 10% of the upper school now taking part. The next phase of work for robotics is to apply our skills earned in competitions towards other problems in the community. Our work to improve the quality of life for the elephants in the zoo is the first example of how we will reach out.

Outdoor Education
By Peter Green, outdoor education director & Upper School dean of students

The outdoor education program is the place where students grow in ways that will help them face the challenges of the outside world. It is one of the ways we help prepare them for the unexpected. The program provides leadership opportunities where students are genuinely challenged to lead their peers, make decisions, and confront daunting obstacles. This past year we passed a major milestone with 60% of the current Upper School students having been on an outdoor program trip. January marks the fifth anniversary of the program, and we have offered over 120 trips. Our plan is to involve as many students as possible. We will be offering more trips that are truly adventures, like our trip to Paulina Butte in central Oregon, where the group will hike up in winter conditions and try to construct a pond or tub to warm themselves before camping out.

Global Education
By Spencer White, global education coordinator & Middle School Spanish teacher

Global education at Catlin Gabel takes full advantage of the international diversity of parents, faculty, and staff to design activities and travel experiences that do not rely on outside contractors or travel agents. Connections to places and cultures far from Catlin Gabel exist in our students’ daily classes and lives rather than as an isolated, future destination. Our students need to be able to communicate and act internationally at every level of their education. Fostering abilities in cross-cultural communication and critical thinking about global issues is at the forefront of our global initiative. Our global programs are developing exponentially. We have launched the Viewfinder Global Film Series, which showed 23 films this year. We invite families from all divisions to gather monthly to view and discuss films selected by the faculty, connected to curriculum. This series honors the diversity of our families and allows us to expand our perspectives on the world and its cultures. In addition, global trip opportunities for Middle and Upper School students this year include Costa Rica, Martinique, Nepal, Cuba, and Japan.

The Learning Center
By Kathy Qualman, Middle & Upper School learning specialist

The Learning Center is truly the place where each child is the unit of consideration. We help students from all four divisions understand their unique cognitive abilities and work with them to identify and practice strategies that get them to their academic goals. We facilitate communications between families, students, teachers, and outside resources so that we are coordinated in supporting student learning. For students there is no stigma attached to using the Learning Center. It’s seen as a resource for all, just like the libraries. Our achievements are highly personal to each student and family. We believe they are life changing and life enhancing. It makes us proud to see the transformation in students, culminating with graduation, when we see our students walk across the stage every June. In recent years between 75% and 95% of each graduating class has used our services during their time at Catlin Gabel. We are working on improving our ESL support, strengthening our efforts to help students transition between divisions, integrating new technologies, strengthening support for new students, becoming a more active professional resource for teachers, investigating partnerships with other institutions, and becoming a resource to our greater Portland community.

PLACE--Planning and Leadership Across City Environments (formerly the Urban Leadership Program)
By George Zaninovich, PLACE director

This unique program allows students to gain exposure to local government and learn how engaged citizens can influence the future of their communities. Every PLACE class culminates in a service learning project where students form an urban planning consulting firm and complete a plan for a client. This directly benefits the community as Catlin Gabel students, working with students from other public and private high schools, tackle a need in our city and find appropriate solutions. Recently, thanks to the work of PLACE’s advisory committee made up of city leaders and Catlin Gabel students and teachers, PLACE was awarded a prestigious grant from the Edward E. Ford Family Foundation. We have added partners in Portland’s Bureau of Planning of Sustainability, Portland State University, and Portland’s public schools. PLACE has come a long way in the last year by adding semester classes at Catlin Gabel, and offering the course at Lincoln and Marshall high schools. We are looking to build a more robust urban studies curriculum at Catlin Gabel, as well as expanding the summer program to include a middle school Urban Exploration camp and more opportunities for high school students from across the region.

The Arts
By Nance Leonhardt, Middle & Upper School art teacher

Active participation in the arts is essential to each student’s understanding and appreciation of humanity. We honor the integrity of each student’s work and aim to create an environment that facilitates creative risk taking, where the process is as important as the product. One example of many vibrant programs in the arts is the Poetry in Motion project, which frees students from traditional media conventions and pushes them to explore cinematography and editing from an experimental and expressionistic angle. It generates cross-divisional connections between filmmakers and poets, and joins the community in a creative process. Each year students in the project produce 45 original films, inspired by works of poetry written by community members ranging in age from 4 to 65 and beyond.

To support these, and all of the amazing programs at Catlin Gabel, please visit the giving website or call or email the development office, 503-297-1894 ext. 302.

Over the Waves

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 3:06pm

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Cruise director Don Fluke '74 keeps the folks happy at sea

From the Winter 2010 Caller

Singing and dancing was always in Don Fluke’s blood, even when he was growing up on a remote cattle and grain farm in tiny Airlie, Oregon. As he got older he found ways to entertain people, even in places where musical theater was a scarce resource. As a Catlin Gabel student he produced an unforgettable ’40s variety revue, “Fluke’s Follies,” that sparks gleeful memories for faculty and alumni. Now, as cruise director for Celebrity Cruises for almost 30 years—and considered one of the best in the business—Don provides entertainment and joy every day to thousands of shipboard passengers.

Don lives and works on a cruise ship seven days a week, for four-month stretches. As a high-ranking senior officer of the ship, he’s in charge of all passenger movement, activities, and what he calls “everything except steering, cooking, and cleaning.” The chief communicator on board, he issues a daily bulletin and even hosts a TV talk show featuring the lecturers and entertainers booked for that cruise. It all comes back to Don’s love of performing when he emcees the evening show, sometimes sings, and always acts as the warm and welcoming figurehead of the ship.

“In my early days as a cruise director, I was speaking to two ladies off stage, and they said I seemed more homespun than when I was on stage. That bothered me. So I try to carry myself naturally. It’s not so easy to come across as sincere when you’re talking to 1,200 people a day, but that’s who I really want to be,” he says.

Don’s talents were honed in many venues over the years. Before, during, and after his time at Catlin Gabel he performed frequently in community musical theater—even during his senior year in Guadalajara, Mexico, where his parents had moved. He went to the School of Performing and Variety Arts at the United States International University in San Diego, then graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Besides singing and dancing, he worked as an announcer for a trivia show on Financial News Network, a songwriter and recorded singer, and a jingle writer for and actor in commercials. His life became what it is today when an agent asked if he’d like to perform on a cruise ship. “And I never had a regular job again,” he says.

It’s not an ideal life for most people, he says. “The novelty of being on a ship wears off. I can’t wait to get back home so I can read the morning newspaper, make my own coffee, watch David Letterman, and go to the supermarket to see new products. Being on land for me is like being on a cruise ship for others. After I’m back on the ship I’m not so excited to ‘take a cruise.’ But after five days I get an adrenaline rush: ‘I love this! This is so nice!’”

“Cruises are a really just a different angle of show business,” he says. “Theaters in cruise ships can seat more than 1,000 people in more professional venues than in many cities and towns. This aspect of entertainment was the role I played in 'Fluke’s Follies' at Catlin Gabel (with many thanks to the tolerance and care of teachers Sid Eaton and Pru Twohy!). I put together a show, handled the technical aspects, and cast the show and performed in it. I didn’t know anything about cruise ships when I was in high school, but I’m essentially doing the same things now.”

Winslow Corbett '98 has made a name for herself in theater

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 3:54pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Gretchen Corbett 63's daughter Winslow Corbett ’98 has made a name for herself in theater. She’s acted in New York and throughout the country and appeared in a Lifetime TV movie. Gretchen reminisces about Winslow’s first professional acting job, at age 15 in “Arcadia” at ACT in Seattle: “Some people remember seeing their child go into 1st grade. But for me it was walking down the street and stopping a block from the theater, watching Winslow walk down the block alone.” She says that Winslow is quite different from her mother: “She’s good at playing roles I could never touch. She has femininity, humor, and a lightness of spirit. We’re good friends.”

Dreams are Powerful

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 3:38pm

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Celebrated actress Gretchen Corbett '63 was destined for a life in the theater, and a Catlin Gabel teacher gave her the background for success

From the Winter 2010 Caller

By Nadine Fiedler

One evening at the theater set young Gretchen Corbett’s life on its course. She was in Ashland with her family to see the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, as they had done for many years. They would sit in Lithia Park in the afternoon reading that night’s play, and then they would go to the performance. That night’s play was “Hamlet.”

“’Hamlet’ completely blew me away,” says Gretchen. “I could not sleep after seeing it. I was overwhelmed with the possibilities of a life in theater, and how moving and important the story that the play told felt to me.”

Her dream was to be onstage at Ashland. She got there, eventually. “Dreams are powerful, as everyone knows,” says Gretchen.

But before she got to Ashland, she received theatrical training at Catlin Gabel that she credits with helping her become the powerful, lauded actress she is today.

The much-beloved “Mrs. Jo,” Vivien Johannes, taught Gretchen English and theater. Mrs. Jo demanded energy, excitement, and passion from her students, and woe were you if you came to class without something in mind to discuss or debate. “If you didn’t, she’d tell you that you were just a pip on a log, and you should get out,” recalls Gretchen.

They worked on scenes in Mrs. Jo’s class for two or three hours a day, performing a play a year. Her eclectic repertoire included some pretty heavy going, like Euripides’ “Trojan Women” and Ugo Betti’s “The Queen and the Rebels.” Mrs. Jo’s space at first was a roped-off section of the Barn, until she and her students designed the Nutshell (the name, incidentally, from a line in “Hamlet”) and the school built it for them.

“Mrs. Jo required us to tap into our self-motivation and passion,” says Gretchen. “This has been essential to my growth as an artist.”

Gretchen won entrance to Carnegie Mellon University through an audition. She was almost immediately cast in Euripides’ “Electra” (which she loved: she had spent two years working on Euripides with Mrs. Jo). And her dream came true when she finally got to Ashland, performing during the summers. After two years Gretchen left Pittsburgh and returned to Portland, taking English classes at Portland State.

That didn’t last long. “This was the sixties, the Kennedy years, when the country believed in the arts,” she says. That fall a representative of a government-sponsored program offered Gretchen roles in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Our Town” in the Repertory Theater of New Orleans, playing to 2,000 high schoolers a day. That phase of her life lasted until she came to New York a year later.

Gretchen was in the city on her way to Europe when she met an agent. “I didn’t know about agents. I didn’t even know how to hail a cab,” she says. But he saw her talent and potential, and soon she was cast in a film, an off-Broadway show, and a Broadway show. “Thanks to Mrs. Jo I could handle heavy classical stuff,” she says.

“When I first played Broadway I walked on the boards as a very young girl with a lot of stage chops. It was unusual to be so young and hit the back of the house with your voice and personality. It was one of those things that has to be learned,” says Gretchen.

She spent 10 years in New York on the stage, in productions with many notable actors, including Alec McCowen, Julie Harris, and Irene Papas, and directors that included Michael Cacoyannis and Abe Burrows. She loved her life in New York theater, so much so that when Universal Studios offered her a contract for film and TV, she refused. The second time they offered, she decided to give it a try and went to Hollywood.

Her life became a constant whirl of roles in films and television, most prominently the unforgettable role of lawyer Beth Davenport in The Rockford Files with James Garner. She also appeared in The American Revolution, with Michael Douglas and James Woods, and a long list of TV series and episodes, including Marcus Welby, M.D., Kojak, and Columbo. She worked so incessantly on so many projects that it’s hard for her to recall everything she’s done, she says, explaining that TV filming takes only a couple of weeks at the most for each project.

And TV work is particularly crazy and demanding. “You do an astonishing amount of work in a day, shooting 12 hours with a script you may have gotten two days before if you’re lucky, and then you have to walk and talk so you don’t block anyone’s light and you’re in complete synch with the cameraman and the 150 people behind him, and you have to create a believable character and bring life and truth to the words you’re saying.”

She began losing her appetite for TV and film, and felt more pride in her stage work. “I didn’t own a TV and was making a living doing TV. Something was wrong,” she says. When it was time to enroll her daughter Winslow Corbett ’98 in middle school, LA schools were uninviting, and Gretchen looked back to the Catlin Gabel she had loved. She and Winslow moved back to Portland, Winslow entered 7th grade at Catlin Gabel, and Gretchen found herself at a loss.

Gretchen wanted to pursue stage acting in Portland, but the local theater community was a hard one to break into. She found other ways to express herself, including learning to throw pots, but that just wasn’t who she was. After serious soul-searching, she found a way to bring theater back into her life. Gretchen had served as resident director in LA at a nonprofit organization that nurtured new plays and playwrights, so she was familiar with nonprofits. She took a deep breath and launched the Haven Project, which paired underserved children with local theater artists to create and perform plays.

“I had no idea how to get the Haven Project going, but I like having a steep learning curve. I simply started writing grants,” she says. Thanks to Gretchen’s grace and determination, the Haven Project was a great success for its 10-year duration. In its day the Haven Project produced 90 plays a year, with over 200 Portland theater professionals touching the lives of 700 children. “I liked making a difference in kids’ lives, and I liked giving artists a way to give back, in the way they knew best,” she says. Her nonprofit venture brought Gretchen into the lives of Portland actors and playwrights, into the city’s public eye, and onto its stages—where she has received continual acclaim.

Gretchen has acted in many plays with several Portland theater companies, and is a core member of Third Rail Repertory Theatre. She will continue to act, and to awe Portland audiences. When you hear her talk about what it means to her to act on stage, you can feel in your own bones the intense physical and intellectual commitment she has to her art.

“I’m an intuitive actor yet it takes a long time for the character to set in my bones and heart, and for me to discover the character’s secrets. I’m curious about people, especially those so different from myself. I care about literature and the way a story is being told. I care about the brain that has created the words I’m speaking.

“I’ve played characters who have had wonderful senses of humor and a more positive outlook than I have. Recently I played a suicidal woman in “A Lesson from Aloes,” and it took me months to get back to myself. Now I consider more carefully. Acting is so internal that it becomes physical, and it can become difficult to stay healthy.

“At its heart the experience of acting is like any creative art form. What comes out of me surprises me as much as it surprises an audience. It’s as if I’m not in charge. At its best it feels like a religious experience. That’s the creative process. After you do all the work on a character you come to that place. I imagine the same is true for writers, musicians, and painters.

“Some actors are attracted to theater because they like to have fun showing off, like kids. That’s not my impetus. I’m personally shy, an introvert. I open my heart in front of an audience so that we can share and learn together about being human.”

Places Please

By Gretchen Corbett ’63

Hamlet pondered

way out on the apron

That’s all it took.

I moved onto the boards

met my family out on the ice

found home in make-believe rooms

with no walls.

Years collapse. Cities merge.

All over the globe

rehearsal halls without windows

invite unexpected music

I walk down taped-on-the-floor steps

into the heart of a stranger.

Countless nests I’ve built

in backstage branches of tumbledown barns

sleek city centers

gilt-edged arenas

each dripping peonies and

pink powder

each pinned with reminders on mirrors

about flying naked

tight rope walking

the fat lady in the front row.

Places please. Places.

Move down secret, blue-lit corridors

past fly rigging and brick

to the edge of the boards

wait

and breathe

and wait

‘till a hush falls

and wait

then an oboe

inside my body

takes over

the stage erupts

spills exquisite light.

I step out into it.

Send life out into the darkness

More on Gretchen's daughter, Winslow Corbett '98.

Photo: Owen Carey
Nadine Fiedler is the editor of the Caller.

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Jazz pianist, senior

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 2:48pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passion: jazz piano

“Music is a big part of my life. I played classical music for many years, but when I learned about jazz at a music camp I went to in the summer before 8th grade, it really excited me. The instructors there told us that if we loved music, we might consider pursuing it as a profession.

That planted a seed for me. I didn’t decide to be a professional back then in 8th grade, but eventually I did. I slowly began playing more jazz and learning more about music. I started to practice jazz more diligently in my sophomore year and developed an ambition to be a great musician. The end of that year, I auditioned for the American Music Program, directed by trumpeter Thara Memory. The first time I played for him, he took me outside and told me I didn’t know anything about jazz, and that I would have to catch up a lot to get into music school and get a scholarship. But he let me into the group. It’s a pre-professional program for high school students, and Mr. Memory starts from the assumption that we should be the best high school jazz band in the country. The group has won national competitions, including the Next Generation competition associated with the Monterey Jazz Festival, and

Wynton Marsalis’s Essentially Ellington competition in New York.

I’m excited to be working on music and aiming for a career as a musician. My hope right now is to get into a good music school and get a scholarship. I want to develop my own musicianship, and I want to play with like-minded musicians who share my ambitions.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Photographer & scientist, senior

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 2:39pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passions: science, photography
Interests: diversity, dance, writing, languages

“Since elementary school I’ve dreamed of becoming a pediatrician and working in other countries. I’ve volunteered at a cancer rehabilitation center in India, and I’ve worked

with kids as a volunteer. I love kids, and I love science.

Two years ago I started experimenting with the camera and Photoshop, and I started doing a lot of portraiture. I posted my work online, and I began getting outside referrals. I’ve done one wedding, and I do portfolios for models and family portraits. I like to shoot in the city or in nature with no fake lighting and no backdrops.

I love portraiture. It’s satisfying to take pictures of people and see them in different ways. It’s great to make them feel beautiful and capture their emotional qualities and their uniqueness.

I plan to go to medical school. It’s hard to find colleges with strong programs in both medicine and art. I want to be a doctor, but I also love travel and would like to document it in photographs.

I’m co-leader of Speed-Ujima, the diversity club. It’s really important to me because I’m part of a minority group in the Upper School. It’s important to let people know that being different is okay and that they shouldn’t hide it. We get the word out that we won’t tolerate racism.

Rahee means traveler in Urdu and Hindi. It’s a piece of fate, from the time I was little, and it’s come true.”

Self-portrait: Rahee Nerurkar

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Violinist, 7th grade

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 2:09pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passion: playing the violin
Interests: robotics, soccer

“I’ve been playing violin for six years, and for the past two I’ve been in the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. I started by playing fiddle tunes, then I got more serious and got into classical music. I like having weekly one-on-one lessons from a teacher who focuses on where I need to improve. I love playing really hard classical music. It takes a lot out of you, and I like that.

At MYS we perform four concerts a year, and before them we rehearse weekly for six weeks. I get more precise in my performance because I’m playing in a group, and playing for people. Concerts make it all come together for me.

I’m a programmer this year in robotics. It’s challenging to take different ideas about how to use pieces of information in a way that is logical, fast, and consistent. I would love to go on in robotics. I also play classic soccer, which I love. Robotics is individual, but you come together at competitions. In soccer you’re with the team the entire time, and you play as a team.

I really like challenges. I love to be challenged in every way possible. Music and robotics keep presenting challenges to me.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Ballet dancer, 3rd grade

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 12:00pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passion: ballet
Interests: reading, piano

“I started formal dance training at 4, and started in the Oregon Ballet Theater at age 7. The first time I saw the Nutcracker it grabbed me and it didn’t stop. I auditioned for the Nutcracker, and I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Dance brings out people’s souls. You can express your feelings in ways that don’t hurt other people. You can bring out your emotions in dance. Movement brings you into the dance. It feels like you’re flying, like you’re whirling. It can be colorful and fast, or slow and sad. It’s really about moving, and then music winds in and brings extra color to the dance.

We train really hard, three times a week. The teacher is very strict, which is traditional for ballet. You have to work hard to stay on top of the pack.

The fun time in class is when we’re warming up, when we all share with the other dancers and help each other stretch or learn a step. We have to work together as a community, and the teacher doesn’t interfere during the warm-up. No one likes it when the teacher yells, so you want to do well to make her happy.

I put my head and shoulders and heart and soul into dancing. It’s a hard life, but rewards come in dancing and performance. The costumes, music, and community come together to make a wonderful experience.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Math & puzzle problem solver, 5th grade

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:43am

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passions: math, puzzles, soccer
Interests: acting, music

“I’ve loved math since 2nd grade. I do a lot of Sudoku, and now I’m working on the harder ones. I like all kinds of puzzles, and math and logic games.

I like the mindset of having to figure out where to put something. You can really feel it when you’ve accomplished something. I like logic puzzles. I like following a train of thought.

We’re doing multiplication and division in 5th grade, and I like the problems. I go for the challenge math in my homework, which has percents or fractions or logic.

I play classic soccer year round, and it’s really fun. It’s one sport where your size doesn’t matter and you have to work as a team. Where you are when you don’t have the ball is as important as when you do. It’s a thinking game: where should I be? Where’s my mark?

I also take some acting classes and did improv classes over the summer. I enjoy memorizing the script line by line, and it sticks in my head. I work to project, stay in character, and not make nervous gestures. Acting can help in life. It helps you get confidence in speaking in front of an audience. I’ve learned to focus on myself and what I’m doing. Then I’m not so nervous.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Tango & aerial dancer, 10th grade

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:03am

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passions: aerial dance, tango

“I started aerial dance classes in 2nd grade and now perform with AWOL, Aerial Without Limits. I love aerial dance because it’s creative, and I love music and combining it with movement in trying to convey a message. I particularly like to choreograph: I listen to music and imagine movements for a long time before I feel ready to put it together and try it out with my peers. I also like that it is a physical form of art— it takes strength a

nd skill, and I have to constantly challenge myself. I see myself doing things I never thought I could.

It’s thrilling and a little bit scary. I can be up in the air 30 feet holding on to a piece of fabric without any nets or harnesses. I’m just on my own and have to be able to focus. Oddly, I’m a little bit afraid of heights, but that just makes it more fun!

Working in aerial dance has raised my self-esteem. At the beginning I knew nothing, but now I can actually help teach others, which is fun.

I also love tango. I’m going to Argentina this summer to study tango. I will also work with an aerial dance company to learn their style of aerial dance, which uses bungee cords. I am interested in how to creatively combine the two kinds of dance. I love both of these arts for similar reasons. Musicality—it’s fun to play with music, and tango is all improvised. You’re silent when you dance in tango or aerial, but there’s a lot of connection.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Installation artist, senior

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 10:48am

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passions: creating art installations, outdoor exploration
Interest: track & field

“For my first art project I hung an old picture frame with a picture of a galaxy set into it on the big, inviting blank wall of the science building, hung to appear like a window of the building itself. Another time I set up a spider’s web of wires, with tin can phones on the ends, connecting six trees in the campus forest. You could hear the sounds of the trees groaning in the wind through the wires.

I have two projects right now of trees wrapped in string. There’s almost nothing more stereotypically organic than a tree, and the strings contrast as a straight line you don’t often see in nature.

Art is a key facet of how I see myself. I enjoy the outdoor program just as much. I’ve been to truly amazing places not many people know of, and seen many wonderful things. These trips are a source of inspiration, and I think about these

places every day.

My art is a product of wanting to explore methods, tools, and ideas—and wanting to do something different for the first time. It’s realizing my daydreams and not always about other people seeing it. It’s very personal.

Sometimes something clicks and I think about an idea a lot. The vast majority of ideas I come up with are things I’ll never do, but that’s not an unfortunate thing. Is that art? Thinking about it, for me, is as important as the actual creation.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Actor, researcher, senior

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 4:46pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passions: theater, scientific research
Interests: journalism, teaching & mentoring

“I’m co-editor of CatlinSpeak, our student newspaper. Working for the paper is always fun, and I love when we hear from others that our writers are doing something valuable. My hope is to pursue a senior project in journalism. I’d like to work for a college paper someday.

Acting is a great challenge. When you’re doing it right—and this has only happened to me a few times—you forget anyone’s watching. In the big triumphs, you walk off stage and feel like you’re still on because you’re still that other person. Acting is a chance to study the life of

someone else. I learn something each time I play a role.

I have an internship at Shriners Hospital, which is a part of OHSU. I found a niche in a lab that studies structural protein in connective tissue, and its relation to symptoms of Marfan syndrome. I study mice for connections between genetics and physical appearance, and even made a discovery over the summer. The moment I looked at a slide I had made and realized I was seeing something no one had ever seen before was thrilling. It’s wonderful to know I’ve helped with research that has the potential to help people. The science community is full of quirky, intelligent people, and I get to talk with the people I work with about things I couldn’t learn from anyone else.”

Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions: Singer-songwriter, artist, senior

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 4:37pm

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From the Winter 2010 Caller

Passions: guitar, singing, visual art

“I like songs that tell or imply stories. It’s a form of communication, a different language. When you’re playing with others or singing together you establish an understanding that’s hard to find anywhere else. Once a week on campus about seven of us eat lunch, talk about music, play, and sing, which I love. I’ve also done some performing locally.

When you play something crisp and simple, someone will remember it more than a blazing guitar solo. Last summer I went on a creative binge and wrote and recorded 20 songs that were sort of folk-bluegrass-rock. From the first song I wrote to the last, they got quieter, more delicate.

I’ve also become more prolific visually. I’m getting more into sculpture, have done a lot of drawing and painting, and have started throwing pots after school. I consider it a constant experiment. I like working with layers and layers as I figure out the medium.

It’s hard to separate visual art and music from each other. They inform each other. If I can’t communicate

something on paper, I can turn it into a song.

More and more I like working with people. This is my first year as a peer helper, and learning to listen is important. It’ll come to my generation to communicate to people. Whether you’re communicating through music, or learning a language, or interacting with others, there’s so much to be gained and nothing to be lost by making a connection and trusting someone.”

Beginning School Art Show

Submitted by Tammy Gentzkow on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 12:25pm

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Beginning School Art Show in the Cabell Center, February 22 - March 29

The Beehive is having an art show in the foyer of the Cabell Center. Families are encouraged to take a tour before or after school to see our children’s exuberant artwork.

Thoughts from 8th graders: upcoming performance, Ptld. Center Stage

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 10:49am

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Third Angle blog, February '10

A group of 8th graders, led by drama teacher Deirdre Atkinson, will be performing their interpretation of Mark Applebaum's graphic score, "Metaphysics of Notation," at Portland Center Stage at noon on Friday, February 5. All are invited! Deirdre collected her and her students' thoughts about the month-long process on the blog of Third Angle, a partner in the production. This was an amazing invitation for our students, and a rare chance to work with professional arts organizations on a deeply creative project.

"Noises Off" Photo Gallery

Submitted by Karen Katz on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 4:28pm

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Upper School Play

In his plot for Noises Off, English playwright Michael Frayn plays on the concept of a play within a play, in this case a dreadful sex comedy titled Nothing On—the type of play in which young girls run about in their underwear, old men drop their trousers, and many doors continually open and shut. Nothing On is set in "a delightful 16th-century posset mill" that has been converted to a modern dwelling for which renters are solicited; the fictional playwright is appropriately named Robin Housemonger. Each of the three acts of Noises Off contains a performance of the first act of Nothing On. (Wikepedia)