Empowering students to think critically and creatively since 1913
VOLUME 110 ISSUE 7 APRIL 26, 2024
IN THE NEWS
SOUTH PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL 1401 FREMONT AVE, SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030
CLASS OFFICE ELECTIONS
SPRING DANCE CONCERT
TIMELESS TWENTIES PROM
Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors will vote for their class officers for the 2024–25 school year on Friday, April 26.
SPHS Dance will put on their annual spring concert on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18.
The annual dance will be held at the Santa Anita Race Track Chandelier Room on Saturday, May 4.
Bright Star musical shines
STORY CLAIRE MAO PHOTO SHIN-HYE (RACHEL) CHOI
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PHS Drama performed their spring musical, Bright Star, for three days. Their three showings in the SPHS auditorium were held on Friday, April 19; Saturday, April 20; and Sunday, April 21. Bright Star takes place in three North Carolina locations: Asheville, Hayes Creek, and Zebulon. The musical revolves around the themes of love and regret, and includes the journey of finding a lost child. “I think there’s many themes. But I think the most important one is this idea of regret. And how do we deal with past mistakes? How do we learn to forgive ourselves [and] other people? The story really tells that story in a roundabout way,” director and drama instructor Nick Hoffa said. “I think that’s the best message to take back is…everything is wonderful and I love you. One of the last lyrics [was] let me lift this veil of darkness. If I’m thinking about things that happen that were bad in the past…how do I move past that?” The play follows two central threads: one set in 1923, and another in 1945. Alice Murphy, the main character of the musical and editor of the prestigious magazine Asheville Southern Journal, begins to reflect on her own past and the circumstances regarding her lost child. The play was comprised of two acts with a 15 minute intermission. Act I consisted of a total of 16 songs, and Act II presented 10. Kicking off with If You Knew My Story, other songs included Way Back In The Day, Please, Don’t Take Him, and Man’s Gotta Do. Auditions for Bright Star took place during the first week of January, and the program’s first rehearsal was on February 5, making the practice for Bright Star around 10 weeks. The cast consisted of 36 performers and 10 members of the Bright Star band. The cast included seniors Iris Barrera (Alice Murphy), Solon McDonald (Daryl), Vivian Yu (Lucy), and sophomores Mina Mannal (Margo) and Jarvis Wood (Billy Cane).
The set included different formations and a backboard with shining stars and colors. Three wooden structures were also present that could be maneuvered and turned to set different scenes. “That was so fun for me to see tonight, because usually getting the bar in the right position has been some work and they did great tonight…[James] Jontz should get great credit for coming up with the design of the set and having [the set] be something that would [feel] kind of evocative of the time period,” Hoffa said. “It was also flexible enough for us to have it live in two different time periods and position them around so we could tell different stories.” The drama program chose the play, which was written by Steve Martin, to present lesser known works to a larger audience. Hoffa hopes the audience will continue to open their minds to watching creative works and spreading comedy in general. “I really like thinking about this play and the story and the characters, because so many characters have what we call an arc…This show has a lot of them: [there’s] Alice and there’s young Alice, there’s Billy and there’s Jimmy Ray,” Hoffa said. “And then there’s Margo and even some other characters. The fathers go through arcs, the Mama Kane, Papa Kane, and there’s all these arcs that happen…I think it makes for a really fascinating, interesting story.” Bringing works to communities to enjoy and learn from has been a goal of Hoffa. He is very proud of how committed the cast was to the story and the final product of Bright Star. “My favorite part is the finale. We revisit lots of different parts of the show. Everyone’s kind of looking around and that’s from this song, or that’s from this song,” Hoffa said. “Usually a show just wraps up with the big opening numbers so to have a final song that is so moving while we’re sort of seeing elements of the show, as a director, it’s incredibly gratifying to kind of revisit the whole beautiful thing I just saw, and a tiny little three minutes on.”
CONSUMER CONSENT
FOUND HEAVEN REVIEW
SOFTBALL VS LA CAÑADA
Tiger analyzes the clear power imbalance between web users and the advertisement companies in the digital age.
Singer Conan Gray’s newest album Found Heaven was released earlier this month to great acclaim and excitement with a new synth sound.
The Tigers suffered a 9-2 loss last Friday, but the team’s energetic atmosphere and strong connection never lost its spark.
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