By Dr. Ramon Sibley
The McKinley High Talented Drama Department has started the school year by presenting two Cabaret performances in its new “Black Box” theatre, featuring a selection of short plays by David Ives. The “Black Box” theatre was built by Dr. Sibley and the Talented Drama students and features a raised stage, tiered seating for seventy-five audience members, and a brand new lighting system. Another new addition to the McKinley program is a costuming class that meets after school for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students in the class have already completed several individual projects including gowns, hats, and tunics that feature Elizabethan and contemporary design elements.
Students from Dr. Sibley’s class finished the 2005-2006 school year on a great note; he entered seven students in the “Poetry Out Loud” national poetry recitation competition and five of these students made it to the state final competition held at the Shaw Center last spring. In the state finals one student, Shelby Taylor, from BRMHS finished in 1ST place. Tamara Bowser, from McKinley High, took 2nd place and Corwin Barnes, also from McKinley High, took 3rd place honors. The young woman from Baton Rouge High, Shelby Taylor, won an all expense paid trip for herself and her mother to Washington, D.C. to compete in the finals where she represented the state with two highly regarded poetry performances.
Dr. Sibley and several of his students have also undertaken a project this year where students have traveled to a local Nursing Home and visited with residents to record their life histories. During the visits students noted mannerisms and characteristics of the individuals as they were interviewed, then selected excerpts from the interviews, memorized them as monologues, then the students returned to the Home and performed these scripts for the residents. The seniors were delighted by the young students and their performances, and the students in turn were touched by the seniors’ fascinating stories. The project has proved to be so successful that we are considering arrangements to make it an annual staple of the program. These stories are scheduled to be performed in the “Black Box” for McKinley students and Staff in the late Fall or early Spring.
McKinley High Drama has also established and reinstated its Thespian Club which will perform at the Louisiana Thespian Conference at Northwestern Louisiana University in Natchitoches in January. McKinley Thespians will travel with and perform in conjunction with Thespians from Baton Rouge Magnet High. For their end of the year main-stage performance the McKinley Drama department is now in rehearsal for a production of the musical “Grease.” For this production actors are being drawn from the general student body of McKinley as well as the Staff. The show is being produced, managed, and directed by the Talented Drama IV students.
The Talented Drama program at McKinley High is growing rapidly and its students are proud of their work and have their sights set on an ambitious future.
