Finding Our Team

In the recently aired finale of the television series Parks and Recreation, protagonist Leslie Knope told an audience, “Go find your team and get to work.” Truly excellent advice. Nearly all of us need the experience of finding our team – those people who get us, energize us and help us see what’s special in ourselves. We need our team to bring out our best in order to accomplish big things. Young adolescents, in the first phases of finding connection in the world outside of their families and immediate communities, thrive when they find their teams. School can be the ideal place for this to happen, though with tightly regulated schedules and emphasis on individual achievement, teambuilding at school can be challenging (even though most teachers and students would prefer otherwise).

After school and other out-of school programming is essential, because such experiences allow young people opportunities not only to find their team but also, often for the first time, to get to work and experience the resulting achievement and satisfaction. Since 2005, Providence has benefited from the Providence After School Alliance (PASA), which, among other programs, offers After Zone after school activity options citywide to Providence Public School middle school students. One such PASA program is the Nathan Bishop Drama Club, the result of a partnership among Nathan Bishop Middle School, PASA, Trinity Rep and Brown University. The Nathan Bishop Drama Club is the brainchild of Bishop drama teacher Glenn Zienowicz, or “Mr. Zen,” as his students call him, who is in his second year at Bishop as a full-time staff member. Zienowicz wields powerful enthusiasm for his work, and has found fertile ground for student engagement and artistic creation in the afterschool space.

During a professional development gathering, Zienowicz met Erik Ehn, the chair, professor and head of playwriting of the Theatre Arts and Performance Studies department at Brown. This connection eventually led to Ian McNeely, a Brown/Trinity Repertory consortium third-year MFA candidate, actor and musician who became a collaborator. With a lead on costumes from a previous production within the Providence Public Schools, Zienowicz and McNeely identified Alice in Wonderland as a likely production for Bishop, but their dissatisfaction with existing scripts and creative energy led to an entirely original musical production of Alice. Titled Alice – A New Musical, the drama club workshopped the production during the fall, started rehearsing in the winter and will perform the musical at Bishop on May 15-17. During the process, the creative team expanded to include a music performance group from Brown University that will play the score live during performances; performers from Bishop’s music classes, led by teacher Deborah Viau; and theater and set decorations from Bishop’s visual arts classes, led by teacher Arthi Sundaresh. The school’s administration, led by principal Kimberly Luca, has provided strong support throughout as Mr. Zen and his team produce an entirely new, fully scored version of a classic, with original staging, lyrics, lines and all other aspects of production.

Parents joined the team, taking on the challenge of fundraising for the production. In February, the group held the Queen of Hearts Ball, a fundraiser at the Providence Marriott featuring musical numbers from Alice. Parent Beth Adamo, mother to sixth grade performer Roslyn, noted that it is gratifying to feel strongly connected to her daughter’s excitement and to be able to contribute in such a meaningful way.

This year, the Nathan Bishop Drama Club attracted a core group of 24 students, and Zienowicz and McNeely are using the large cast as an asset. Alice, for example, is played by three seventh graders, each representing Alice’s changing dimensions through the story – which is, as Zienowicz noted, an apt metaphor for the dramatic changes that middle schoolers experience. Annette Milburn, who plays Big Alice, shared that she feels the most like her true self on stage, saying, “I like being able to express myself here – knowing that I can do this makes me feel good all day long.” Noa Alon plays regular-sized Alice, and she talked about the challenge that she felt expressing herself and the ways that Mr. Zen helped push her out of her shell and into character. Audrey O’Donnell plays Little Alice, and she says that when people see the play, “They’re going to be very surprised by what middle schoolers can do.”

Audrey may be right. We tend to underestimate young people. The Nathan Bishop Drama Club’s efforts show us what’s possible when a multigenerational and otherwise diverse team gets to work. Alice – A New Musical shows us that young people are worth all of the time, energy and focus that talented, inspiring adults can give them. What’s possible in theater is also possible in arts, science, athletics, civic participation and much more.

Join the team! Please support the Nathan Bishop Drama Club’s production of Alice – A New Musical. The team is gratefully accepting contributions to support production costs at www.gofundme.com/NathanBishopDrama to contribute. Tickets for shows on the evenings of May 15 and 16, and the afternoon of May 17, will be on sale at the door at Nathan Bishop Middle School, 101 Sessions Street in Providence; call the school at 456-9344 for more information.