The Class of 2025 Presents 'Podcasts With Fairy Tale Twists'

4/2/2021

The 8th-grade musical is a milestone for our middle schoolers. Eighth graders hone their theater chops all year to put on a dazzling spring performance for the entire school, family, and friends. But with restrictions in place, separate cohorts, and limitations on visitors, our Middle School performing arts crew had to figure out a way to turn this tradition on its head. Under the guidance of drama coaches extraordinaire Ms. Cathy Hewitt Carper '81 and Ms. Kathleen Donovan, along with the audio recording expertise of music teacher Mr. Kirk McAuliffe, our 8th graders adapted three hilarious stage plays into one of the fastest growing media formats out there. Drumroll please . . . presenting the first-ever Severn School 8th-grade audio series, Podcasts With Fairy Tale Twists! Bravo to the vocal stylings of the class of 2025!

The Backstory

"The 8th-grade Performing Arts was disappointed to say the least when the pandemic forced us to cancel our musical this year. What were ways we could still perform and remain safe while observing all the rules and regulations of the pandemic? This challenge became a time of ingenuity and creativity.

Over the summer we came across a website called Drama Notebook which consisted of royalty-free scripts, class work, improvisation exercises, and various workshops. While reading about radio shows from this website, we were inspired to create podcasts. Students researched and learned about traditional radio shows and how they morphed into the podcast. Three scripts were chosen, and students auditioned for the roles in person and over Zoom. The students learned how to use Garageband to record their podcasts complete with commercial breaks. Our three student directors, Alex Perritt, Nina Ambro, and Bronwyn Bolton, worked closely with the teachers to edit the final versions. Each week in March, the student directors launched an episode of Podcasts With Fairy Tale Twists to the Middle School community. We hope you enjoy 'Snow White and the Seven Entrepreneurs,' 'Robin Hood Rap,' and 'The Princess Who Couldn’t Laugh!'" — Ms. Carper