WINGED POST
THE HARKER SCHOOL
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THE UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE HARKER SCHOOL VOL. 27 NO. 5
500 SARATOGA AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2026
“Something Rotten!” delivers brilliant, witty Shakespearean spoof SIBLING STRUGGLES (RIGHT) Simon Kirjner (12), playing Nick Bottom, grabs Aditya Ramanathan (12), playing brother Nigel Bottom. TIME’S UP (BELOW) Lord Clapham, played by Sophia Zhu (11), warns the theater troupe. FUTURE VISION (BELOW RIGHT) Nostradamus the
shreyas karnam, saria lum & grace wu
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ressed as forks and fried eggs, the actors of “Something Rotten” sing, dance and flip omelets as Nigel Bottom (senior Simon Kjerner) enters the stage wielding a giant whisk. Welcome to “Omelet” — a fake Hamlet-esque production about eggs set in the 1500s — one of the many comedic interludes in this year’s musical. Filled with lively dancing and singing, this and other scenes immediately capture the audience, transporting them to Renaissance England. 43 cast members united for the production of the musical
“Something Rotten!” from Mar. 19-21 in the Patil Theater. Senior Simon Kjerner and Adiya Ramanathan portrayed sibling duo Nick and Nigel Bottom’s quest to be more successful than William Shakespeare, blending satire, comedy and innuendos to deliver a highenergy musical. As the Bottoms aim to out-write Shakespeare’s successful plays, a soothsayer suggests that Nick should create a the first-ever musical — “Omelet,” a hilarious Hamletesque production about eggs. Usually, Harker performs specific musicals in a twelve year rotation. This year’s spring musical was completely new for the production team.
inside the
ISSUE
news ................ 02
opinions...........09
features........... 03
stem.................. 14
a&e/lifestyle.... 07
sports............... 17
04 news
U.S., Israel strikes on Iran enter fourth week
PHOTOS BY KAIRUI SUN, EMMA LI AND SHREYAS KARNAM
Soothsayer, played by Charlotte Ludlow (12), acts future possibilities for Nick.
“Since this is the first time we have done this musical at Harker, none of us actually went into it with a mindset of ‘Oh, here’s how we’ve done it previously,’” assistant stage manager Nicholas Knauer said. “This time, we just chose to go
all in, and we made it up as we went because we’ve never done it before.” Since “Something Rotten” has many more ensemble numbers than most other musicals do, ensemble member Aashi Jain (10) explained the
challenge of learning the dances and numbers, especially because there are multiple complex routines that require the whole cast to be on stage. “Even though it’s pretty challenging, it’s also really fulfilling,” Aashi said.
07 12 a&e/lifestyle opinions
14 stem
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