Senioritis (musical)
Encyclopedia
Senioritis is a high school musical comedy
about the stresses of senior year and is a satire
on teacher
s, parents, college admissions
, celebrities, and the money
culture. Written by nine students from Virginia
and Maryland
, it was performed in August 2007 at the Kennedy Center and made into a feature-length film, thanks to a grant
from the Arts Council
of Fairfax County.
Senioritis tells the story of the senior class at Erma Schmoe High School, which unwittingly becomes the object of an experiment
testing the famous laziness
so common in the final year of high school
. When the seniors bomb their first-quarter grades and tests, they get rejected by the elite "Holly League" colleges. They (and their hovering parents) fear that their lives are hopelessly ruined. Things go madly awry when the seniors get wise to the experiment and decide to get even by having the worst case of "senioritis" in history. The seniors put on a "high school mythical" about senioritis and become global sensations.
The score includes 18 original songs, on topics ranging from grade inflation
("C's and D's are Very Good for You") to college rejection letters ("However"), to hovering parents ("High School Parent Blues
"), to the temptations of ambition
("Rich and Famous").
and Cappies co-founder William Strauss
. The student team consisted of book writers Miriam Engle and Maggie Shaw, lyricists Erick Pope and Maddie Underwood, composers Riley Keenan, Dustin Merrell, AJ Pendola, Abi York, and digital artist Tami Grossman. The students were given the task of writing a musical comedy about high school anxiety. A storyboard
for the musical was completed in December, an initial script by the end of January, lyrics during much of February and March, and composing (under the direction of director Brant Challacombe) during March and April. Throughout May and June of 2006 the book, lyrics, and score were revised continuously.
The Cappies hosted three script readings: two nonmusical readings in February and March by students at Stone Bridge High School
and a musical reading in May by students from Winston Churchill High School
. Following each reading, the script and score were substantially revised.
Senioritis premiered at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
on August 6, 2007, under the direction of Stone Bridge High School theatre director Glen Hochkeppel and Glenelg Country School
musical director Brant Challacombe. Choreography
was led by Amy Hard, cheographer at Robinson Secondary School
.
." Today’s teenagers suffer anxiety
about their relationships
, parents, grades
, college applications, and ambitions for the future. Many would rather pursue personal goals, but are forced into lives designed to impress others. Feeling burned out, high school seniors sometimes resort to drastic measures and forget about school altogether. This can have very negative consequences when all those years of hard work look like they’re not paying off.
, Jared, persuades her and all the other seniors to follow the lead of Babbers, the school slacker
, and "chillax" for a minute or two. When they do, they are observed by Agents X and Y, two so-called "experts" on the topic of senioritis, who persuade Stanley Krasston, the school’s strict assistant principal, about performing an experiment on Erma Schmoe seniors, giving them poor grades and S-A-T test scores, to see how they respond. Krasston likes the idea because it gives him a chance to embarrass the school principal, his old high school classmate Meg Wivvans, a ditsy ex-hippie
who got into colleges from which he was rejected.
Everything goes according to plan, and the seniors get rejected by all the elite "Holly League" colleges. They react not by becoming more motivated, but by despairing and not bothering to go to class any more. Under pressure from her mother, in a last-ditch effort to rescue her resume, Evelyn breaks up with Jared to go to Athens for a study abroad program. A parent-teacher meeting to discuss the seniors’ poor performances is interrupted by a surprise visit by the global celebrity
Madonjelina, who decides to adopt Babbers as her "torn and tattered teen." The students hear rumors
about the experiment that was done on them. Led by Jared, they decide to experiment back by having the largest epidemic
of senioritis the world has ever seen.
for those months, the seniors founded Senioropolis, a commune
based on the teachings of senioriticism. From Athens, Evelyn had sent Jared a plan for this society
, and he brought it to life around the teachings of Babbers, alias "Seniocrates." When she returns, she and Jared get back together. Meanwhile, the parents are upset that their children have not been home in weeks and pressure the school superintendent
to fire Principal Wivvans, who has tolerated the seniors’ occupation of the theater, and replace her with Assistant Principal Krasston, who promises a "crackdown."
Faced with the threat of being forced to shut down Senioropolis and repeat senior year, the seniors stage a "High School Mythical," starring Babbers as "Seniodysseus," who is lost at sea and must navigate the shoals of high school life. Madonjelina, now Babbers’ adoptive mother, drops by to see her son’s performance, is given a starring role, turns the show into an instant world-wide sensation, and makes the seniors famous
.
Even so, the superintendent is determined to make the seniors repeat their senior year, but just as she is about to announce her decision, Agents X and Y are unveiled as two high school seniors from Liechtenstein
. The purpose of their experiment had been to slander American high school seniors as a way of enabling more Liechteinsteinians to be accepted by Holly League colleges. They are un-accepted, Krasston is fired, Wivvans keeps her job, and Madonjelina uses her clout to persuade the Hollies to pay the seniors (who are now global celebrities) to attend their schools. After Evelyn and Jared refuse the temptation of becoming "rich and famous," the Erma Schmoe seniors celebrate, off to better things with "admission to life."
attention surrounded the musical as the show's dates edged closer. There was much interest, with a few articles having been published in newspapers such as The Connection and USA Today
newspapers. A short piece was done for NBC.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
about the stresses of senior year and is a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s, parents, college admissions
College admissions
University admission or college admissions is the process through which students enter tertiary education at universities and colleges. Systems vary widely from country to country, and sometimes from institution to institution....
, celebrities, and the money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
culture. Written by nine students from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, it was performed in August 2007 at the Kennedy Center and made into a feature-length film, thanks to a grant
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
from the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
of Fairfax County.
Senioritis tells the story of the senior class at Erma Schmoe High School, which unwittingly becomes the object of an experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
testing the famous laziness
Laziness
Laziness is a disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to do so. It is often used as a pejorative; related terms for a person seen to be lazy include couch potato, slacker, and bludger....
so common in the final year of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. When the seniors bomb their first-quarter grades and tests, they get rejected by the elite "Holly League" colleges. They (and their hovering parents) fear that their lives are hopelessly ruined. Things go madly awry when the seniors get wise to the experiment and decide to get even by having the worst case of "senioritis" in history. The seniors put on a "high school mythical" about senioritis and become global sensations.
The score includes 18 original songs, on topics ranging from grade inflation
Grade inflation
Grade inflation is the tendency of academic grades for work of comparable quality to increase over time.It is frequently discussed in relation to U.S. education, and to GCSEs and A levels in England and Wales...
("C's and D's are Very Good for You") to college rejection letters ("However"), to hovering parents ("High School Parent Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
"), to the temptations of ambition
Motivation
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...
("Rich and Famous").
Background
Senioritis was written by eight high-school students from various schools in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The "Creative Team" was selected in October 2006 under the direction of playwrightPlaywright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and Cappies co-founder William Strauss
William Strauss
William Strauss was an American author, historian, playwright, theater director, and lecturer. As a historian, he is known for his work with Neil Howe on social generations and for their theory of generational cycles in American history...
. The student team consisted of book writers Miriam Engle and Maggie Shaw, lyricists Erick Pope and Maddie Underwood, composers Riley Keenan, Dustin Merrell, AJ Pendola, Abi York, and digital artist Tami Grossman. The students were given the task of writing a musical comedy about high school anxiety. A storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
for the musical was completed in December, an initial script by the end of January, lyrics during much of February and March, and composing (under the direction of director Brant Challacombe) during March and April. Throughout May and June of 2006 the book, lyrics, and score were revised continuously.
The Cappies hosted three script readings: two nonmusical readings in February and March by students at Stone Bridge High School
Stone Bridge High School
Stone Bridge High School is a public secondary school in Ashburn, a community in Loudoun County, Virginia.The school is part of Loudoun County Public Schools and is located on 43100 Hay Road...
and a musical reading in May by students from Winston Churchill High School
Winston Churchill High School (Montgomery County, Maryland)
Winston Churchill High School, often referred to as WCHS or Churchill, is a high school in Potomac, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County, Maryland....
. Following each reading, the script and score were substantially revised.
Senioritis premiered at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
on August 6, 2007, under the direction of Stone Bridge High School theatre director Glen Hochkeppel and Glenelg Country School
Glenelg Country School
Glenelg Country School is a nonsectarian, co-educational independent day school in Howard County, Maryland, adjacent to Columbia, Maryland and between Baltimore and Washington, D.C...
musical director Brant Challacombe. Choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
was led by Amy Hard, cheographer at Robinson Secondary School
Robinson Secondary School
James W. Robinson, Jr. Secondary School, known as Robinson Secondary School, opened in 1971, is a public school in the Commonwealth of Virginia....
.
Synopsis
Senioritis is a musical comedy about real high schools, set in the very competitive world American education has become, satirizing all the many elements that lead to so-called "senioritisSenioritis
Senioritis, from the word senior plus the suffix -itis , is a colloquial term used in the United States and Canada to describe the decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their high school, college and graduate school careers."I have a bad case of...
." Today’s teenagers suffer anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
about their relationships
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
, parents, grades
Grade (education)
Grades are standardized measurements of varying levels of comprehension within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in letters , as a range , as a number out of a possible total , as descriptors , in percentages, or, as is common in some post-secondary...
, college applications, and ambitions for the future. Many would rather pursue personal goals, but are forced into lives designed to impress others. Feeling burned out, high school seniors sometimes resort to drastic measures and forget about school altogether. This can have very negative consequences when all those years of hard work look like they’re not paying off.
Act One
Act One begins with a typical day at Erma Schmoe High School. Evelyn Cummings, a high-achieving, intelligent senior, is stressing out over the many exams she has to take. Her boyfriendBoyfriend
A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed relationships, where other titles A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed...
, Jared, persuades her and all the other seniors to follow the lead of Babbers, the school slacker
Slacker
The term "slacker" is used to refer to a person who habitually avoids work. Slackers may be regarded as belonging to an antimaterialistic counterculture, though in some cases their behavior may be due to other causes ....
, and "chillax" for a minute or two. When they do, they are observed by Agents X and Y, two so-called "experts" on the topic of senioritis, who persuade Stanley Krasston, the school’s strict assistant principal, about performing an experiment on Erma Schmoe seniors, giving them poor grades and S-A-T test scores, to see how they respond. Krasston likes the idea because it gives him a chance to embarrass the school principal, his old high school classmate Meg Wivvans, a ditsy ex-hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
who got into colleges from which he was rejected.
Everything goes according to plan, and the seniors get rejected by all the elite "Holly League" colleges. They react not by becoming more motivated, but by despairing and not bothering to go to class any more. Under pressure from her mother, in a last-ditch effort to rescue her resume, Evelyn breaks up with Jared to go to Athens for a study abroad program. A parent-teacher meeting to discuss the seniors’ poor performances is interrupted by a surprise visit by the global celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
Madonjelina, who decides to adopt Babbers as her "torn and tattered teen." The students hear rumors
Rumors
Rumors is a farcical play by Neil Simon.At its start, several affluent couples gather in the posh suburban residence of a couple for a dinner party celebrating their hosts' tenth anniversary. When they arrive, they discover there are no servants, the hostess is missing, and the host - the deputy...
about the experiment that was done on them. Led by Jared, they decide to experiment back by having the largest epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
of senioritis the world has ever seen.
Act Two
Act Two picks up the story four months later. The seniors are living in their school theater. After cutting class, pranking, and resisting authorityAuthority
The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
for those months, the seniors founded Senioropolis, a commune
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
based on the teachings of senioriticism. From Athens, Evelyn had sent Jared a plan for this society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, and he brought it to life around the teachings of Babbers, alias "Seniocrates." When she returns, she and Jared get back together. Meanwhile, the parents are upset that their children have not been home in weeks and pressure the school superintendent
Superintendent (education)
In education in the United States, a superintendent is an individual who has executive oversight and administration rights, usually within an educational entity or organization....
to fire Principal Wivvans, who has tolerated the seniors’ occupation of the theater, and replace her with Assistant Principal Krasston, who promises a "crackdown."
Faced with the threat of being forced to shut down Senioropolis and repeat senior year, the seniors stage a "High School Mythical," starring Babbers as "Seniodysseus," who is lost at sea and must navigate the shoals of high school life. Madonjelina, now Babbers’ adoptive mother, drops by to see her son’s performance, is given a starring role, turns the show into an instant world-wide sensation, and makes the seniors famous
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
.
Even so, the superintendent is determined to make the seniors repeat their senior year, but just as she is about to announce her decision, Agents X and Y are unveiled as two high school seniors from Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
. The purpose of their experiment had been to slander American high school seniors as a way of enabling more Liechteinsteinians to be accepted by Holly League colleges. They are un-accepted, Krasston is fired, Wivvans keeps her job, and Madonjelina uses her clout to persuade the Hollies to pay the seniors (who are now global celebrities) to attend their schools. After Evelyn and Jared refuse the temptation of becoming "rich and famous," the Erma Schmoe seniors celebrate, off to better things with "admission to life."
Media
Substantial mediaMass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
attention surrounded the musical as the show's dates edged closer. There was much interest, with a few articles having been published in newspapers such as The Connection and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
newspapers. A short piece was done for NBC.
2007 Premiere Cast
- Molly Dickerson as Evelyn Cummings
- Dustin Morris as Jared Jamison
- Megan Ort as Olivia Grenson
- Kyler Vaillancourt as Babbers
- Emma Earnest as Lily
- Megan Herrera as Melanie
- Matthew Xhignesse as Dexter
- James Singleton as Clif
- Samuel Brown as Timmy
- Julieann Choi as Agent X/Liecht
- Kate Kirschner as Agent Y/Stein
- Michael Sapp as Stanley Krasston
- Tess Talbot as Meg Wivvans
- Jennifer Petronzio as Madonjelina
- Mary Picard as Dr. Helga Hawkins and Browston
- Kathleen Smith as Raspy Gaspy
- Chelsea Cook as Felicity Forte
- Matthew Provance as G.C. Beaker and Terri
- Diego Maurera as Napoleon Charlemagne and Darryl Darrington
- Amanda Fernandez as Austen Bronte
- Angela Miller as Julie Cummings
- Elcid Strickland as Finbar Jamison
- Dan Hrebenak Bobby Babbers and Pennvard
- Gen Blau as Ophelia Grenson
- Ellen Rosebrough as Mom Krasston and Yalemouth
- Julia Katz as Cornumbia
See also
- CappiesCritics and Awards Program for High School StudentsThe Cappies ' is an international program for recognizing, celebrating, and providing learning experiences for high school theater and journalism students and teenage playwrights....
- High School MusicalsHigh School MusicalHigh School Musical is a 2006 American television film, first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful film that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and...