What a great night - Thanks to all!
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TRISTARS
Tri- School Theatre Arts Recognition and Support
Serra's 1st Annual Tri-School Cabaret was a sellout, and an unqualified success! Thanks to everyone who either worked on or attended this memorable event.
Drama at Junípero Serra
The drama program at Junípero Serra has a rich history going all the way back to the "old school" in the late 1940s. In those days it was a tradition for the graduating class to stage a senior play each year despite what must have been meager resources and facilities.
The Gellert Auditorium
When the school moved to its present location the building included a good-sized, fully equipped theater, complete with orchestra pit and a state of the art (for that time) projection booth that included two 16mm carbon-arc movie projectors. Over the years the theater has served as the primary performance venue at the school hosting school assemblies, large meetings, concerts, community events, and, of course, all drama productions, all without benefit of a backstage of any kind and nearly no wing or fly space. Still, with 750 seats, the theater was one of the priemere venues on the peninsula, second in size only to the San Mateo Performing Arts Center. The last ten years have brought major upgrades to the lighting and sound systems allowing for increasingly more ambitious productions. The theater was re-named The Carl Gellert Auditorium in 2005.
Two Shows a Year
Beginning in 1972, with Phil Garay at the helm, Serra began to stage two shows a year, a drama or comedy in the Fall and a full broadway musical each Spring. Girls for the productions came from a variety of schools in those early days but primarily from all-girls schools Notre Dame, Belmont and Mercy, Burlingame. Also, it was not uncommon during the 1970s to see a faculty member or two on stage, or even a local college student. From 1977 to the present, however, the shows have featured only students from Serra, Notre Dame and Mercy.
Tri-school Productions is Born
In 1988, when Serra entered into the cooperative curriculum endeavor known as "Tri-school" with Notre Dame and Mercy the spring musical seemed like the perfect extra-curricular activity for this new enterprise. After taking two years to iron out the logistics, 1990's ambitious "West Side Story" became the first Tri-school musical. Fall plays remained Serra Performing Arts productions until 2007, when "Up the Down Staircase" became the first fall play produced under the Tri-School Productions name. The idea of two all-girls schools and one all boys school working in collaboration to produce as professional a product as possible was, and remains, the primary goal.The decade saw many of Broadway's biggest hits come to life on the Serra stage. Tri-school Productions celebrated its first ten years with "Somewhere...Together, a Decade in Review" in 2001, a trip down memory lane that featured thirty-three musical numbers from all of the eleven shows staged between "West Side Story" and 2000's "Grease."
The Gypsy Robe
The gypsy robe is a symbol of good luck among Broadway chorus members, who call themselves "gypsies" because of the transient nature of their work. This distinction goes to a member of the chorus - not a lead actor - who represents the positive spirit of the production and is chosen by the production staff. The opening night ceremony of awarding a decorated dressing gown to a selected chorus member began in 1950 with a dancer named Bill Bradley. Tri-school Productions began awarding the gypsy robe in 2001. More .
The Modern Era
The past few years have seen Tri-school Productions become an innovative force in high school musical theater. They were the first high school on the Peninsula to take on "Les Miserables," the first in the entire San Francisco Bay Aera to be granted rights to Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," and the first to stage Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida." With record numbers of students auditioning, and an ever increasing number pursuing acting or technical theater as a career, Tri-School Productions has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that cooperation and dedication to high standards can lead to magical results.
Mercy * Notre Dame * Serra
Tri-School Productions
2009 (Fall): Macbeth - directed by Joe Hudelson
2009 (Spring): Footloose - directed by Gennine Harrington
2008 (Fall): Dead Man Walking - directed by Joe Hudelson
2008 (Spring): Once On This Island - directed by Gennine Harrington
2007 (Fall): Up the Down Staircase - directed by Dan Demers
2007: Bye Bye Birdie - directed by Gennine Harrington
2006: Aida– directed by Gennine Harrington
2005: Beauty and the Beast– directed by Gennine Harrington
2004: Les Miserables– directed by Bernadette Fife
2003: Little Shop of Horrors– directed by Gennine Harrington
2002: Pippin– directed by Gennine Harrington
2001: Somewhere…Together (a Decade in Review) – directed by Gennine Harrington
2000: Grease – directed by Gennine Harrington
1999: Oklahoma– directed by Eddie Kertel
1998: Anything Goes– directed by Eddie Kertel
1997: Guys and Dolls– directed by Eddie Kertel
1996: Pirates of Penzance– directed by Eddie Kertel
1995: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – directed by Eddie Kertel
1994: Fiddler on the Roof – directed by Eddie Kertel
1993: Annie – directed by Tom Sullivan
1992: The Wiz – directed by Regina Marshall
1991: Jesus Christ Superstar – directed by Regina Marshall
1990: West Side Story – directed by Tom Sullivan
