Newfield middle school streams musical

Newfield Middle School streamed its production of “Frozen Jr.” last weekend, overcoming challenges such as less preparation time and having to stream the play as opposed to showing it live.

Jennifer Carr, a librarian for Newfield Central School District, directed the musical. Newfield High School’s musical directors, Lori White and Anne-Marie Thayer, approached Carr and asked her to direct the middle school musical because of her past involvement with musicals. She has volunteered for the plays in various capacities, from painting to helping build sets to putting on makeup, for the past five years, but this is the first time she has directed a play.

“It’s been a great experience so far,” Carr said. “The kids have been really excited, and the families have been wonderful, and it’s been a lot of fun. Changing roles from doing backstage is a little bit different, but I have been involved with theater for most of my life.”

Carr said she has been involved with theater since high school and she loves the music and camaraderie associated with theater. She described working on school musicals as a fulfilling experience for all involved.

“It’s a great way to get to know kids from different grade levels,” she said. “It’s a really supportive activity to be in. They learn dance and different preparations. They work on singing. It’s a very versatile activity for students to be in because you can be involved in theater for your whole life. It’s really a lifelong activity for them.”

Newfield Middle School has been putting on musicals every year for at least a decade, as Carr remembers that the musicals were a tradition when she first came to the school. “Frozen Jr.” was chosen due to it being a family-friendly show that Carr, along with Sharon Powell and Steve Yaple, the musical and technical directors, respectively, for the middle school musical, felt everyone could enjoy.

“There’s only so many musicals you can choose from for junior versions for middle school,” Carr said. “And looking at all of them, and looking at what we’ve done in the past, [we wanted] to do something newer that we haven’t done before.”

Carr and the others had to take the cast size into consideration when choosing a musical since fewer students — just 15 cast and 15 crew members — were participating this year. Previous years’ musicals usually had 20 to 30 students in the cast.

“There [have] been bigger casts,” Carr said. “It really does depend on the year. The musical was online last year, and the kids haven’t really had a typical school year last year, so things have kind of adjusted a bit, and we’re trying to recruit and build our program back up.”

Unlike previous years, in which the cast and crew usually have at least two months to prepare for a musical, the cast of “Frozen Jr.” only had a month and a half to prepare for the show. COVID-related safety restrictions prevented them from starting until the middle of September after the school year began.

The later start time and switch from live performances to streaming were not the only COVID-19-related safety precautions. The play held virtual auditions, students wore masks and practiced social distancing during rehearsals, the choreography limited physical contact between students, and students wore special singing masks with a bit more space around the mouth to better allow for singing while still protecting the students.

Carr said that in some ways, recording a play for streaming was more difficult than doing it in person and resulted in a lengthier production process.

“You have to practice, then you have to record, and then you have to edit your recording and upload your recording to the streaming service, so there’s just a lot more steps involved,” Carr said.

Newfield Middle School charged $8 per individual and $20 per family, with the individual rate intended to make the play affordable for those watching on their own. Carr said that she anticipated fewer people than usual would watch the play because many Newfield residents do not have reliable internet access. Carr thus anticipates that the play will have an overall lower revenue than those of previous years.

Despite all the challenges Carr and the others involved with the production of “Frozen Jr.” had to overcome, Carr said she hopes Newfield enjoyed the play and that the community will give the students who performed in the play the same support they give to the student-athletes on the school sports teams.

“I hope that the community enjoys all the hard work that the students and our volunteers have put in,” Carr said.

In Brief:

Newfield Town Board Meeting

Newfield Town Board will meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 10. For more information, including the Zoom link for the meeting or a copy of the agenda, visit the town’s website at newfieldny.org.

Newfield Library holds Family Storytime

The Newfield Public Library will hold its regularly scheduled Family Storytime from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 16. For more information, visit the library website at newfieldpubliclibrary.org/events/family-storytime-1030-11/.