Wilbraham & Monson Academy's yearlong Academy Repertory Company class stepped out of its comfort zone last weekend.
That, however, proved to be where the ARC students felt most comfortable.
Eight members of Mrs. Susan Dziura's ARC class participated in the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School Spotlight Theater Festival, held in Springfield May 12.
"It's the coolest thing we've done for ARC," Arianna VanVoorhis '18 said. "I definitely think it's something we should continue doing. I know the previous festival we used to go to, Mrs. Dziura didn't like it because it was competitive, and art shouldn't be competitive. Going to this festival, we made friends and we had workshops. It was an amazing experience. In my three years of ARC, that was the best thing we've done."
Shiyin "Sally" Liu '18 was at her best, receiving a certificate after her performance as the lead in "Anonymous."
"I like being on stage," said Sally, who took up acting when she arrived at the Academy in Grade 9. "I like to pretend to be someone else speaking your own voice and getting our opinions across to the audience. Because you're acting in someone else's narrative, you're transforming it into who you are and relating that to your own story."
WMA told the 45-minute story of "Anonymous" very well, first bringing the performance together when the students returned from March break.
"We were amazing," Mrs. Dziura beamed. "We didn't have a lot of time to do this. We've only been working on it this trimester. We had one outside rehearsal. We were up against it. We were incredible. I was really impressed.
"I'm so excited it happened and it's going to continued. We will absolute go again next year, and when we get a facility and we can host a festival."
Along with Sally and Arianna, other WMA ARC performers included Phong "Justin" Ngo '18, Kate Hoag '19, Luana Cavalca '18, Gordon Hertel '19, Wei "Victor" Liu '18 and Zhe "Eva" Wang '19.