Meridian Division 2 students spend their full year in an Interdisciplinary Arts class designed to help them think about how a variety of art forms can be integrated together to build a final musical, theatrical performance. Co-taught by the music, studio art, and theatre teachers, this collaborative class starts with an existing text. Students learn about script-writing, song-writing, set and character design, as well as other visual and theatrical possibilities, culminating in a performance created and delivered completely by the students.

This year, students used the book, Roxaboxen, by Alice McLerran, illustrated by Barbara Cooney. The non-linear narrative of the story posed a creative challenge to expanding the script and increasing character development. In addition, being unable to perform live this spring presented limitations that students had to think inventively to solve. Students planned a Zoom-based reunion format for the characters to reminisce about memories of their childhood community. Their script incorporates songs to move the story forward, and is accompanied by illustrations composed from backgrounds and jointed paper characters drawn by each student. The premier of the Roxaboxen musical was streamed online on June 7th, followed by a live Q&A with the student writers, singers, artists, and cast!

WATCH THE FULL PERFORMANCE HERE!