OUTDATED
By Ella Harmon
For the first time our school will be collaborating with Wasatch this year for our upcoming 2019 musical!
Due to the schools’ long history of rivalry, we have never collaborated like this before. After all these years our schools are putting their differences aside and are working together on our wonderful production.
From March 6-8, at 7 p.m., Churchill is putting on the musical High School Musical: On Stage directed by our wonderful theatre teacher and director Gabriela Baguley. Wasatch will be performing the sequel, High School Musical 2: On Stage with their theatre teacher and director, Natalie Dallimore March 14-18 at 7 p.m.
The two teachers first made the decision to partner up last year after Dallimore heard that Baguley was doing the first. They figured they should try to bring the students together due to the fact that they will go to the same high school in the future. It is a great chance for both schools to get together and unite instead of remaining so distant.
“Our students need to feel like the schools are ‘all in this together’ rather than a rivalry. In the arts, it’s about supporting our community and lifting each other up. We hope our shows bring that message,” says Baguley.
Baguley first began teaching at our school on Aug. 21, 2017, and she has definitely changed things up, in a good way of course.
“I think I bring a different style to Churchill! Churchill always had a good program,” says Baguley, “My style is making the ensemble just as much as a focus. I think High School Musical allows for the ensemble to play a bigger role because the show is about them! The cliques finally come together in unity and understand that friends can be different than you.”
This also applies to the collaboration, as the schools are also uniting for the musicals and understanding that everyone is different. Although the two schools may never fully end their rivalry, it is good to finally work together for something.
As the event draws near, both casts continue to work very hard to put on these shows, and push through every obstacle they encounter. Excited family members and friends are putting this special event on their calendars and counting down the days until the shows. The schools are encouraging each other to watch both shows to support one another.
Contrary to popular belief, the two schools do not need to be rivals and be so competitive simply because they face each other. When these kids go to the same school in the future it isn’t healthy for them to remain at war with one another. This is yet another good reason for the partnership, because as Baguley stated, we need to be “all in this together!” It is definitely a breath of fresh air to get together with Wasatch after all this time.