Whisconier Middle School Unified Theater performers on stage Friday night
Kindness matters; indeed, kindness is the antidote to bullying.
That simple, yet poignant theme, was at the heart of Whisconier Middle School’s Unified Theater Arts program on Friday night.
Unified Theater is a program that allows students of all ability levels to create from start to finish their own theatrical production: they write the scripts for their skits, compose commercials, memorize lyrics to various songs and create their sets. They even create their own costumes and write their own programs. Their faculty advisors steer them in the right direction, but the approximately 30 students do all the work.
And I must say, the end result was magical. Parents, staff and community supporters were clearly awed by what they witnessed on the Whisconier stage Friday night. Best of all was how good these students felt about what they had accomplished; some of these students didn’t even know each other’s names before they started rehearsing together earlier in the year.
The program was about Super Heroes, and I will say I think every single one of those performers was a “super hero” and their message of spreading kindness wherever go is one that will resonate with some long after their final curtain call.
A nod to Julie Oakley for her inspiration to these students, and I hope more embrace the opportunity in the future.
Good job, all! (I couldn’t help but shed a tear on the final rendition of “Lean On Me.”)