Features
All Hands on Deck
In mid-April, one month before opening night, students began spending two hours each morning preparing for the show. In addition to the cast and stage crew, there are several other crews students can be part of.“ If they’ re in the cast,” Esswein explains,“ they continue with rehearsals— and they now have rehearsal every day. If they are not in the cast, every student gets put into a crew, which can be sets and props, construction, publicity, [ or ] costumes.”
“ The construction crew is basically building the things we need,” Capezzuti says,“ like the risers or the blocks. Sets and props makes them look nice and makes anything that needs to be held, and then, of course, there’ s costumes.”
In true Falk fashion, these aspects of the show are a deeply collaborative experience, with Tim Wagner from WonderLab leading the construction crew, librarian Benoni Outerbridge taking on costumes, art teachers Cheryl Capezzuti and Deborah Lieberman leading sets and props, and a handful of faculty assisting with behind-the-scenes preparations.
Capezzuti says she kicks off the design team by creating a long list of sets and props that will be needed for the show— her“ hit list.” After that, students have a lot of independence in picking which jobs they want to do.“ As you start to incorporate elements of costumes and props and sets [ in ] the weeks leading up to the show,” Esswein adds,“ you take this blank canvas, and then it turns into the musical slowly but surely, which is a really cool process.”
A Community Affair
“ Being able to work on something way bigger than yourself and seeing how every single person’ s little contribution makes a difference in the final [ product ] is something really magical.”
By the time opening night rolls around each year, the entire school is abuzz with anticipation.“ A lot of community excitement and joy comes from it,” Esswein says, referring especially to the Primary students who eagerly discuss the show each year, and the Class of 2027 who organized a community bake sale for the Alzheimer’ s Association during last May’ s performances.
Lindsay Zeleznik Smell, an alumna from the Class of 1998, still remembers being one of the younger students waiting not only to witness the magic but to join it.“ As elementary students,” she writes,“ we had the opportunity to watch the performances each year. The middle schoolers seemed to have so much fun participating in the plays, and many of us aspired to be a part of that when we got older.”
Although the school has seen many changes in its nearly 100 years, the spring musical remains an essential part of the Falk experience and continues to be a source of lasting memories and friendships for the community. Now more than ever, it’ s also an opportunity to grow as leaders and be actively engaged in the learning and creation process. As Esswein puts it, there’ s a lot of trust built between students and teachers through the musical, and as Capezzuti says,“ being able to work on something way bigger than yourself and seeing how every single person’ s little contribution makes a difference in the final [ product ] is something really magical.” ■
For Capezzuti, the transformation feels progressive in that it’ s an opportunity for students to develop confidence and ownership and construct meaning through making.“ We get this book that has the words, the music, the lyrics, the list of things that we want, but the kids— whether they’ re choreographing a dance or designing a set piece or coming up with a costume— they’ re deciding how we take words on paper, written by somebody else, and make them their own.”
EN AVANT | 2025 ISSUE