The MT Family 🎭 Feature 🎵

Senior Musical Theatre

presents

THE WEDDING OBJECTION

Thurs March 14th - 3:30pm AND Fri March 15th - 6:30pm

"Be Our Guest" at a wedding full of colorful characters, where nothing is quite as it seems.

The Senior Showcase is a completely student-led production and serves as the culminating project of students' four years in the Musical Theatre program at Talent Unlimited High School. The directors, choreographers, writers, stage managers and dance captain were elected by their peers and every senior serves on a production team covering marketing, publicity, playbills, lighting, sound, set aspects and costumes. Come see the magic that occurs when students are given the freedom to lead the way and create!

Tickets available at the door.

On February 29th, Jeremiah Nelson and Ani Vasquez performed in TU's “Celebrating Black Excellence” showcase. Black Excellence is a compilation of resilience, success, beauty, strength, high achievement, determination, pride, innovation, hope, rhythm, and soul.

MT majors Ani Vasquez, Megan Carrion, Kelsey Vargas and Isabella Macias Severino will be performing at the Department of Education's Women's History Month Celebration at 52 Chambers Street on Thursday, March 14th. We are so excited for these powerful ladies to represent TU at this high-profile event!

Congratulations to...

Kiyari Garcia, Damaris Salvador and Megan Carrion for being selected to participate in Project Broadway’s Mosaic Musical Theater Training Program in NYC! They were three of only 12 students chosen city-wide to train for free with Broadway guest artists - making a strong showing for Talent Unlimited High School!

🎶 Happy Birthday to... 🎶

Jamalie Austin - March 11

Rebecca Acosta-Gonzalez - March 20

Kayla Rosas - March 23

Ashley Bovell - March 24

Chelsea Dennis - March 24

We are now into AFTER SCHOOL REHEARSALS for the Senior Showcase. Seniors should be available every day from now until March 15th from 3-6pm. If a student is not needed for the day's rehearsal, they will be notified in advance. For a daily schedule of rehearsals / performances and who is called, please click HERE.

There have been several recent updates / changes that have been passed along to me from the travel company.

1) Our return flight has CHANGED - we are now returning from Orlando on a 3:09pm flight and will arrive into Newark at 5:58pm.

2) We are chartering busses to take students and chaperones to and from the airport. The bus will leave from TU INSANELY early on the morning of April 22nd to take us to Newark and will take us from Newark back to TU on the evening of April 27th. Stay tuned for more details.

3) Our performance has now been set for Tuesday, April 23rd at 2pm in Disney Springs on the "Waterside Stage".

4) Our Broadway workshop has now been set for Wednesday, April 24th at 10:30am in Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort "Performance Hall" - Disney Broadway Magic "Frozen".

5) The order in which we are visiting the parks has changed - we will be closing out the week at Magic Kingdom - NOT Animal Kingdom. The rest will be confirmed in a final packet that we will have once the travel company does its last confirmations.

6) Technically, the final balance on this trip was due on February 26th to Educational Performance Tours. If you're having any trouble with payments, please contact EPTPayments199@yahoo.com.

7) The travel company has made it clear to me that they and Disney reserve the right to make changes to our itinerary, performance and workshop times and spaces, hotel, etc.

Please click HERE to access the original informational packet for this trip that was emailed awhile back. As stated above, much of that information has since been altered.

CALENDAR FUNDRAISER

Each student was supplied with a Calendar Fundraiser for the months of January and February...and now there is a NEW one for the month of MARCH. This allows your child the opportunity to collect as much as $496 for a month.

Please click HERE to view the fundraiser flyer and Collection Form for MARCH.

Please click HERE for the language your child can put into an email blast for this fundraiser for the month of MARCH. They will need to "Make a Copy" of the document and then they can adjust it to reflect their needed days of sponsorship and preferred methods of obtaining sponsorship payments.

ACTING AND VOCAL: We are VERY close to the performances of Senior Showcase, so at home you should expect your child to be actively, diligently and repetitively rehearsing their solo piece, as well as the ensemble pieces for this production. They should also be completing tasks for their production team.

Seniors should be filling out a Daily Intention Log for in-class rehearsals and a Rehearsal Log for the work they are doing at home (4 hours logged per week). Both items will be graded at the completion of this project. These two resources keep students on task and accountable for their own time and growth.

For a WEEKLY BREAKDOWN OF HOMEWORK AND ASSESSMENTS click HERE.

For a complete list of Senior Units of Study for Semester 2, click HERE.

The juniors are joining the seniors for the DisneyWorld trip and performance, so please see the detailed information, changes and instructions above.

ACTING: We are in the middle of monologue performances in master class. At home, you should expect to see your child rehearsing their monologue with a focus on making their TACTICS clear and visible. If you want to help them prepare, ask your child to perform their monologue for you and take note of whether or not you sense that they are trying different ways of getting what they want from the person they are talking to.

Every day in class, we provide written and verbal feedback on each of our peers' performances and our Feedback Buddy takes notes for us when it is our turn to perform.

We are also in the process of discussing options for our Disney / Demonstrations ensemble pieces and will begin rehearsals within the next couple of weeks.

For a WEEKLY BREAKDOWN OF HOMEWORK AND ASSESSMENTS click HERE.

For a complete list of Junior Units of Study for Semester 2, click HERE.

ACTING: We are currently in the middle of a cycle of master classes on our Cole Porter songs with a focus on Motivated Stage Crosses and Breath Intake/Control. This cycle places an emphasis vocal technique and each student is going through a rigorous coaching session with me after they perform to address an area of need (breath intake, breath support, resonance, exploring their mix voice, classical vs. contemporary technique, etc.)

You should ask your child about their master class and the feedback they received. Please encourage them to keep experimenting with the vocal strategies and exercises that were explored in class. If you hear your child "meowing" or "nnnnaa, nnnnaaaing" their song, it's all part of the process.

Each day in class, we provide written and verbal feedback on each of our peers' performances and our Feedback Buddy takes notes for us when it is our turn to perform.

For a WEEKLY BREAKDOWN OF HOMEWORK AND ASSESSMENTS click HERE.

For a complete list of Sophomore Units of Study for Semester 2, click HERE.

Exciting Opportunity for Freshmen ONLY:

EXPLORING THE ARTS - LANG ARTS SCHOLARS PROGRAM

The Lang Arts Scholars is a free program that provides weekly afterschool arts training in music, theatre, or dance in grades 10-12. Our partners for the fifth cohort are Mark Morris Dance Center for dance, Third Street Music School for music (instrumental and vocal), and The Barrow Group for theatre. In addition to arts training, it offers help with applying to college, and career prep through exposure to NYC’s Cultural landscape and artistic industry and summer programming. For more information please read the Family Information Packet [English], Family Information Packet [Spanish] and to apply, please click Application [English], Application [Spanish]. The online application is due Monday, March 4th but ETA will offer you an extension if you need!

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, March 4, 2024

Current Freshman Curriculum

ACTING: We are moving into a unit in Improvisation. Freshmen will begin with improvised solo stories and will then start group improvisation. We'll continue our Musical Theatre History exploration with a unit on the American Roots of Musical Theatre and research the very first musical.

VOCAL: Students are beginning a unit on basic Music Theory and the elements of a piece of sheet music. We will also place students into groups based on areas of need for their vocal growth (breath intake, breath support, vocal placement) and we will work with our peers to take steps forward on our individualized vocal goals.

For a WEEKLY BREAKDOWN OF HOMEWORK AND ASSESSMENTS click HERE.

For a complete list of Freshman Units of Study for Semester 2, click HERE.