Middle school thespians followed the Yellow Brick Road to the Performing Arts Center for a musical performance of “The Wizard of Oz.” In the classic tale, a tornado whisks away Dorothy and her dog, Toto, to the magical land of Oz.

While the pair are traveling towards Emerald City to meet the Wizard, they also meet a scarecrow that needs a brain, a tin man missing a heart, and a cowardly lion who wants courage. The Wizard asks the group to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West to earn his help, so they set out on a perilous journey where each learns that there is no place like home.

Culminating a year of self-discovery and exploration in the arts, the senior art students presented their capstone projects at the Art Colloquium, an annual arts seminar hosted in the Performing Arts Center at King School. The presentations are a result of the school’s O.P.E.N project experience: Original, Personal, Experiential, and Novel. Each year, seniors are encouraged to explore different mediums of art and create projects that are a personal expression of their interests or experiences to present to their classmates at the colloquium.

The students typically begin their projects with one idea, but the idea develops into new concepts or multiple projects as the year progresses. Jamie Munno ’22 likened the experience to the growth of a flower.

Students and parents filled the Performing Arts Center at King School last weekend for riveting performances of Pirates of Penzance, a comic operetta. The musical follows the tale of Frederick, a young buccaneer who finds himself torn between his duty to his fellow pirates and his love for the major general's daughter, Mabel. The production made its way to the King stage for a three-day run in early March.

For the past 39 years, the Katonah Museum of Art has hosted a Young Artists exhibition that features the work of local high school seniors that participate in curating, installing, and promoting the exhibit for the public. Ten students from King School are participating in this year’s show, exhibiting artworks they have made in Advanced Art 3 and AP Art and Design classes taught by Ran LaPolla and David Hughes.

The works of William Shakespeare can be complex, but King’s performing arts teachers employ the full potential of the stage in helping students understand the text and develop a love for it. The middle and upper school productions of Triple Trouble and Macbeth, respectively, demonstrate the power of the stage as a learning tool.

The Middle School got a facelift this week when students from the sixth grade, armed with colored masking tape and their imaginations, covered the windows of the middle school atrium with line art as part of a project for art class. The project was inspired by Darel Carey, a visual artist who uses lines to create optical illusions that shape and bend the dimensions of flat surfaces and space. His art includes painted murals, digital art, and tape installations. 

Middle School students rehearsed for six weeks to prepare for an exciting three-day Broadway performance aptly named The Show Must Go On! Despite the many challenges that the students faced this year with social distancing measures still in place, these young performers were able to create a virtual experience to bring the musicals to life. The show featured a combination of live solo, duet and trio performances accompanied by prerecorded full-cast and small group acts.  

A group of 11 King School seniors presented their artwork and talked about their yearlong exploration of various mediums. In preparation for the annual art colloquium, which took place on April 29, students experimented with different art forms to creatively convey their interests and life experiences.