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Theatre & Arts

School edition of the world renowned musical Les Mis at College Sturgeon Heights Collegiate

$1.50

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Saturday, December 10, 2016

Kaelyn Middleton

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LES MISERABLES

The Creative Process WINNIPEG - High school, College Sturgeon Heights Collegiate in St. James has been rehearsing for three months in preparation for show week in december. A big undertaking, the directors chose one of the most famous musical of all time - Les Miserables. The students auditioned for roles in June and got to know the musical on their own time over the summer months. Their commitment and long hours of work paid off and made this show a success. School Edition poster. Les Miserables: School Edition was adapted for high school students to perform. It is supposed to be just over  two hours in length. LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE WITH MORE DETAILED VISUALS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OBxSDpS0GxDsjtp-c6R7H8_c151Ak4Wg1d8j42Y16ow/edit

Musical theatre is offered as a half-credit course for grades 10-12 at Sturgeon Heights with regular rehearsals on Monday, Friday and Sundays. Music director Avonlea Armstrong works with soloists during the school day on spares. Set and Costume Design Jeff Johnson and producer Barbara Engel were the forefront in the visual appeal of the production. Months of thought and work were put into making complex sets to complete the musical. Walls, a bridge, a barricade and a garden were a few of these that were made. Costumes from 19th century France are hard to come by, but Engel did a fantastic job with the help of other schools in the division lending materials. From extravagant wigs and coattails to grungy peasant rags, the costumes were a hit that made the actors shine. Photo Credit: Emily Villaneuva The Barricade: a main part of the show in Act II, built by head set constructor Jeff Johnson.

Photo Courtesy of: College Sturgeon Heights Collegiate Showtime The shows ran from Nov 30 - Dec 3 at 7 pm with good attendance. None of the four performances sold out, but the audience enthusiasm made up for that. The majority of the cast is additionally involved in choir which contributed to the maturity of sound. Since Les Mis is sung throughout, strong voices are important. The diction was strong and all the words were clear - the small theatre may have helped with this. Les Mis is a musical equipped with emotion, sadness and small amounts of comic relief. The run time was well over two hours and it wasn’t done until 10 pm (with intermission). It was an enjoyable experience paired with the impressive sets and props. The run time was much too long to sit around for a high school production, although it was well done considering this is a high school musical. The audience loved it and so, it was a success.

Final Assignment 

3. How Our Society Treats Ex-convicts or People on Parole 

Upon being released from prison and integrating into the world, rehabilitated criminals are met with a myriad of obstacles in many areas. Depending on their sentence/extremity of the crime committed, their family and friends may regard them differently, hurting them emotionally. This would add to the already harmful side effects that prison/jail has. There are strict rules and many bullies in criminal correctional facilities and it is hard enough to integrate into the world after going through isolation and trauma for however many years the ex-convict has served. Correctional officers and other inmates can be abusive both verbally, physically and sexually. In the United States, we see way too many cases of small crimes such a marijuana possession, getting the person long sentences such as 10 years, which is ridiculous. Crimes such as these should absolutely not result in such long periods of jail time. It is a huge waste of a person's life for a what can be a petty crime. The people in cases such as these miss out on their families lives. If they have children, their kids will grow up without a mom or dad and then that causes another slew of long-term problems in which the kids will be missing out on a big part of life and suffer sadness. The hypothetical significant other would be along and maybe move on without their former companion. It's not as though this isn't a problem in |Canada as well, but there are much less stories of these injustices. Val Jean is a victim of these injustices in another century. Crimes of theft were a bigger deal back then when people had less possessions and gadgets. Although Val Jean stole for the best possible reason: to save a starving family, it was still unacceptable to the police. Since he also broke a window to get the loaf of bread, it was seen as breaking and entering. This is a common crime today, but jail time is not always necessary and if it were, it would be short time served with parole. We see the stark contrast to the 18th century when Val Jean was sentenced an insane nineteen years. This is near equivalent to a second-degree murder charge of 25 years with parole all over a life-saving loaf or bread. Then again, in those times a large fraction of the population in France was starving so Val Jean may have been stealing bread that was worked hard for by another close-to-death family. Generally, people treat ex-convicts with varying degrees of contempt. Looking for work is very difficult for the people when the employers see that they have a criminal record. Most businesses or corporations don't want to be associated with criminals even if their crime was light. It may hurt their reputation or income for consumers to see the face of someone who has seen the inside of a prison cell representing the business. This is dependent of the crime and the amount of buzz around the crime at the time of the trial. Murder and rape cases involving big news articles and social media rants will familiarize the world with the person. The best example of this is Brock Turner, a college student rapist who somehow got away with a three-month sentence when charges made against him were eligible for fourteen years. His status as a young male swimmer at a well-known college swimmer swayed the case unjustly despite all the hard evidence against him. He is well known by the public around the world, not just the States where he lives. There was an uproar over his lack of sentence and portrayal by the news over social media, so he is widely disliked but rightly so if you research his trial and case. My point is, the majority of people hate him and if students know about him, adults sure do, especially those that hire people for jobs. No business wants the face of a rapist serving or helping customers. Rehabilitated criminals are not very likely to lead normal lives again. Between struggling with the mental and emotional stresses and tough memories of serving time paired with the way other people think upon release can be traumatizing. This impacts their ability to lead a normal life with all of this baggage. I think that Jean Val Jean was successful for a while when he changed his identity to become the mayor, but that didn't last and he wasn't living life to the fullest. He was in constant fear of being discovered and really, he was alone. With Cosette, he found a purpose to life and was able to put aside his safety for hers. His life was less than normal. Living in fear and pursuit is not safe or relaxing whatsoever, which is how a normal life should relatively be. There is a lot of grey area in this topic as everyone is different, just like the extent of the crimes committed that will either hinder or ease their re-integration into the world.