Students at Richmond Green Secondary School in Richmond Hill brought their skills to the stage earlier this year with the production of Due at 11:59. The play, which brings themes and scenes from legendary plays such as Hamilton and The Lion King was completely student-led and produced. Based on the real life events of the students who found it challenging to narrow their selection down to one piece, they took this struggle and turned it into opportunity. “What stood out to me the most was their ability to bring this theme to life” said Music and Drama Head Nadia Gulamhusein. This challenge would then inspire what the students would write and perform, providing a unique experience for those acting and producing alike.
Building towards three performances in December; one for local feeder schools, one for Richmond Green SS students, and one for friends and family, students joined groups that focused on learning a particular aspect of the show, which they would then teach to their classmates. “Every year you get a new set of students with unique talent, unique skills and unique brilliance,” Gulamhusein said. “You never have the same show twice.”
Students learned many skills that will help them as they move forward in life. Grade 12 student Shani, who is pursuing business at a post-secondary level next year, noted that being able to work with people, like she did while creating this stage production, will serve her well as she enters the world of business. “We learn to be able to take someone’s ideas and be like “that’s amazing, what if we do this as well?”” she said. “So it is very much working with people, being able to communicate and being able to find the right words at the right time.”
Grade 12 student Joshua, who was in the sets and props group, pointed out that there are many skills he can bring forward in the next steps of his professional and academic pursuits. These skills include confidence and collaboration. “Confidence is probably the biggest one that I’m going to take from this, because when I look back and I see how my level of confidence was when I was in Grade 9 compared to now, it’s so different,” he said. Joshua will be able to use his newly refined skills in his upcoming summer job and when he moves on to post-secondary to study media production. Both students scored a perfect 100 per cent in their drama class.
It wasn’t just Richmond Green students who were involved with the production, as upwards of 20 Redstone Public School students also assisted with the production, even performing some dance steps with their high school counterparts. Since Redstone PS is a feeder school for Richmond Green, this gives incoming students an opportunity to get comfortable and have positive experiences in the school before they arrive there full time.
In addition to their rigorous learning and the skills they will use moving forward, they also have fond memories of the production. As Shani stated “we truly all became best friends. We would laugh on stage. We would laugh so much. I’m going to always remember (the show).”