After attending Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2, & 3, a play about the Civil War, students visted the Yale Center for British Art.
The sound of a single gunshot, the ringing of an exploded bomb, a sudden burst of blinding, white light – these all come from the hauntingly touching show that Arts Concentration students attended last Thursday, April 5. As the students from all artistic disciplines watched Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2, & 3, a play set during the Civil War, they were exposed to the Yale Repertory Theatre’s rendition of an epic tale filled with intriguing music and expert acting. The play, written by Suzan-Lori Parks, featured not only a historical setting in Far West Texas, but also contemporary slang and allusions to ancient Greece. According to Ms. Kalya Yannatos, who organized the trip, this performance included “powerful, difficult, heart-wrenching truths revealed from a historic lens through a well-written play, brought to life by amazing actors and exquisite production values. It was long and challenging, but well worth the epic journey.”
In regards to planning the annual field trip, Ms. Yannatos said, “The process starts almost a year ahead, working with Mr. Kevin Rogers [Choate’s Director of Studies] to identify possible calendar dates, in tandem with looking for events, concerts, shows, exhibits.” A large effort is made by the arts faculty to ensure that the focus of the field trip combines multiple disciplines; this allows all artists to be exposed to a variety of art.
On the subject of the outing, Anna Ely ’19, a student in Choate’s dance program, said, “The yearly field trip gives Arts Con students an opportunity to, as a united community, experience some element of culture and art as it is available to us, or what is local. We are lucky to have Yale art museums and New York City so close by — it’s so accessible! This field trip provides the Arts Con community with the chance to see something beyond our own work.”
Heather Shao ’19, a new dance Arts Concentration member, found the play particularly engaging: “Something that I really liked about the show was its ability to intertwine social issues with art. Through the combination of dancing, music, and theatre, the play was able to effectively convey the emotions and aspects of the Civil War and what the main character experienced. My favorite part was the ending of Part 1, when they used multimedia and shadows to denote a certain atmosphere and feeling.”
When asked about what it was like to go on a field trip with Arts Con members of different disciplines, Ely and Shao both said they enjoyed the intermixing of concentrations. “We all understand art on a deeper level, and because of that, we are able to have a very good and open dialogue about it,” Ely said.
Shao added, “Though it is a larger group and is less naturally cohesive, it was interesting to see the perspectives of musical and visual Arts Con members.” Though Ely found herself focusing on the stunning blocking of the musical and watching from a choreographic standpoint, students from other concentrations viewed the play through other lenses.
The yearly field trip exposes the Arts Concentration community to a wider range of culture and art forms which are not accessible at Choate. Though they are able to critique their own work and those of their peers at school, students now have the chance to be introduced to a different world of art.
Ms. Yannatos concluded, “It’s important for us all to have the opportunity to get off campus and see things that may possibly inspire and fuel us in our own artistic practice. It’s essential to step away from the Choate bubble and reconnect with a larger playing field.”
