Gallery • 13 Photos

Jacqueline Mateo-Sanchez

Senior Ryan Doerr reading the poem she wrote, Lessons My Loves Have Taught Me.

The SpringArts festival at HHS is a student-run production that showcases the senior talent in the arts department through senior-directed ten minute plays and solo performances and gives the rest of the student body the opportunity to perform their work in a formal setting. Founded six years ago by a group of students, SpringArts has since become a valued tradition to graduating seniors, many of whom are majoring in their craft in college.

For senior Eleanor Alger, who is directing a ten minute play and performing a solo piece, SpringArts is her final farewell to the fine arts family.

“This is my fourth SpringArts,” Alger said. “After this, the only show I have left to do on the HHS stage is my Fine Arts Academy project, so it’s a bittersweet goodbye.”

The SpringArts organization process is also entirely student-run, which makes it very different from working with productions like the winter musical, as stage manager Megan Labarge has learned over the past two years.

“There are aspects of it that are a lot easier and there are aspects of it that are a lot harder,” Labarge said. “With musical, there are so many adult figures, parents, volunteers and directors helping out, but SpringArts offers very little adult assistance. It’s a lot easier in that artistic decisions are completely up to the students, so it winds up being very unique.”

While the planning process for the whole production can be taxing, the ten minute senior directed plays take time, as well. This year boasts three shows, directed by Eleanor Alger, Genevieve Cowardin and Noelle Warne, and Zach Benevento and Seth Bontrager.

For senior Zach Benevento, coordinating his senior show has been a difficult process.

“The timing has been really difficult,” Benevento said. “People are doing a lot of outside projects in addition to this show, and it’s senior year, so [Seth and I] have been doing a lot, too.”

Bontrager feels similarly.

“I’m doing a number of different things for different groups, both artistically and academically. May is always really hard because it’s not just final exams, it’s end of the year concerts and projects and it’s incredibly difficult to juggle all of those things,” Bontrager said.

While SpringArts offers a way for seniors to have artistic control in a formal setting, it also gives underclassmen the opportunity to share their own creativity. For freshman Kate Cummings, this is valuable.

“It feels really good to be considered for something like SpringArts, because the encouragement and approval is coming from your classmates, not your teachers,” Cummings said. “It makes everything you’re doing feel more rewarding.”

Alger’s SpringArts experience, which spans her entire high school career, reflects that of Cummings.

“I started in freshman year, hoping that the upperclassmen would see something in me, something that meant I could be a part of their art and be good at what I was doing,” Alger said. “Now, I’ve moved into that leadership role, and I can’t wait to see what is produced in the coming years, long after I’m gone.”

The sixth annual SpringArts festival was held on Saturday, May 6 at 7:00 in the HHS auditorium.