Last week, Upper School debuted their winter production: The Black Box New Play Festival! This special show featured eight original plays, written by Upper School students and directed by Robert Thaxton-Stevenson (Drama Teacher and Technical Director) and Liza Oldham (Director of the Annenberg Center for Learning & Research).
The playwrights participated in a two-week writing workshop at Chapin in December (led by Mr. Thaxton-Stevenson and Ms. Oldham) and finished their plays over the winter break. After exploring concepts like character development, story structures, Aristotle’s Poetics and popular theatrical conventions, the students challenged themselves to write a one-act play using the following parameters: 10-minute maximum, 1-7 speaking roles, a yellow box featured prominently and a mention of a character named “Dr. H” who never appears on stage.
The funny, heartfelt and clever plays—each unique in its own way—explored deep themes like love, hope and friendships. The actors were thrilled to bring their peers’ work to life and did a wonderful job doing so! Congratulations all around!
Playwrights:
Nora Adekoye ’26
Annabelle Borsanyi ’25
Kaitlyn Davis ’25
Celestine Deaton ’26
Quinn Mackintosh ’29
Esmé-Ines Satori ’26
Olivia Spence ’27
Haley Zhang ’26
Actors:
Annabelle Borsanyi ’25
Kaitlyn Davis ’25
Isabel Emrich ’29
Zoe Jones ’27
Lola Lee ’29
Giana Manning-Gold ’27
Evangeline Mujica ’27
Matilda Party ’29
Courtney Pellegrino ’29
Audrey Phillips ’29
Katherine Willinge ’27
Tech Crew:
Cadence Sewell ’27
Isabella Saenz ’28
Costume Crew:
Livvie Goble
Samaira Chhabra ’26
Build Crew:
Nora Adekoye ’26
Celestine Deaton ’26
Jade Mena ’26
Isabella Saenz ’28
Cammyla Villegas-Vernet ’25
Lucia Villegas-Vernet ’26
