Love is...student work

Dear Friends,

Starting this week and continuing into next, we are reminded of the first line of our mission: "We invite people of all ages to experience the natural beauty of our campus and the transformative power of the arts." Families joined in the fun, and it was delightful to hear their perspective on the value of Usdan. One parent shared that her student was far calmer in the summertime, and that "Usdan clearly offers something that therapy cannot."

This week, we saw Creative Writing students get a standing ovation at Monday's Festival, and Musical Theater students bring to life "RENT," "Spamalot," and "Beetlejuice." In the Art Department, Comic Art students are working on their own zines and Photography students welcomed a visitor from the Dance Department to practice shooting portraits.

In Nature, students learned to forage and make tea out of sassafras, and the ongoing tournament in Chess has advanced to the championship round. In Music, Vocal Ensemble, Orchestra, and Band had their culminating performances, playing a diverse repertoire spanning from Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" to "Rephrygeration by Todd Salter."

Read on for more details and photos of a very special week at Usdan.

 

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Hip-Hop Pool Party

Where all the elements of Hip-Hop converge

Grab your bathing suit, shake off your dance moves, and get your tickets for what promises to be a party for the history books. For the second year in a row, Usdan Artists in Residence and the founders of Hip-Hop are throwing an epic pool party on Saturday, August 9 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Enjoy live music, food trucks, performances, art experiences, and more!

 

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Week 3 in Photos

In the Jewelry Making Major, students express their personal styles with finished pieces made through experiments with metal-working techniques and materials. 

 

Week Three marks an increase of families visiting campus. We love having you!

 

Cross-department collaboration is one of the many joys of Usdan. This week, a Senior Ballet Major visited a Photography class to pose for color-tinted portraits.

 

For this year's Camp Kindness Day, students wrote sweet messages in chalk and answered the question, "What does kindness look like at Usdan?" on video. The answers included "inclusivity," "respecting other student's boundaries," and "always being their for each other."

 

Once a session, students who have been at Usdan for five or more years are invited to a special lunch! This year's crew walked the red carpet to their pizza party and played Usdan bingo. We will host another lunch for 4B and 8-week students on Tuesday, August 5.

 

Painting and Drawing students show off their artwork in the outdoor area of A6.

 

With enthusiasm, skill, and style, the 2025 Musical Theater Season opened this week with "RENT," "Spamalot," and "Beetlejuice." Want to see more Musical Theater? Check out this year's schedule, and be sure to save the date for the Troupe's "Into the Woods" on Tuesday, August 12.

 

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Looking Forward to the World Premiere of "Aviva vs. the Dybbuk"

Q & A with Musical Director & Composer Ben Boecker

Assistant Art Teacher and Usdan alum Kate O'Phelan's illustration of next week's "Aviva vs. the Dybbuk" Playbill cover.

In his seventh year as a Musical Director in the Theater Department and in his 14th year total at Usdan, Ben Boecker's musical adaptation of the book, “Aviva vs. the Dybbuk,” written entirely on guitar, will premiere on the Lucy Moses Stage Thursday, July 24.   

“Aviva vs. the Dybbuk” is the fourth commissioned piece to premiere at Usdan and the first of two commissioned pieces this season. Usdan’s evolving Commissioning Program, originated by Senior Chair of the Theater Department Jim Incorvaia, offers students the opportunity to engage with new work with the support of Theater faculty.

“It's rare that kids get to do high quality, original work that they can really delve into on an artistic level,” Ben shared. “There's really nothing like it. You can't go on YouTube to look how someone sang your song. You can't copy. You have to come up with it all on your own.”

Next week's show is based on Mari Lowe's 2022 award-winning novel, "Aviva vs. the Dybbuk." Mari came to speak to the Musical Theater class last week, helping the student-actors better understand the ambiguity of grief illustrated in her book.

 

Could you speak about next week’s show? 

Ben: “Aviva vs. the Dybbuk” is based on a book that deals with a child's view on grief — a very imaginative child's view on grief. In the Commissioning Program, we are trying to target different issues that are important to kids. 

The dybbuk is a folkloric ghost from Jewish traditions, a spirit that stayed behind after death with unfinished business. And in the book, the author talks about how the dybbuk flies. The last song in the show is called, “Flying Through,” and it's all about how, now that we've dealt with these emotions and we've dealt with the heavy, difficult parts of grief and accepted the reality of what our life is, we can fly through the challenges and obstacles that come to us.

How have you seen “Aviva vs. the Dybbuk” come to life since you started rehearsing with your class?

Ben: The project evolved once we brought the script to camp through a process of the two table reads we did with the faculty in the spring. Then we brought it to the kids in the first week of camp, and it began changing almost immediately.

I love working with kids because they say what's on their mind — the kids at Usdan are very expressive. They asked questions, and things started changing almost immediately. Bringing in the author Mari in last week for a Q & A helped inspire some of the ideas behind the piece. We've now made some small shifts about the ambiguity around loss and grief, which was a big point of conversation that we had with the author and with the kids. We wanted to create that thread through the story as well.

 

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Festival Recap

Student performances begin!

To open a week of student performances at Festival, Junior and Senior Creative Writing Majors and Minors took the stage, reading poems and story excerpts. The themes of the readings included fantasy creatures, sci-fi moons, and gratitude for music.

 

On Tuesday, July 15, Junior Vocal Ensemble Majors and Minors performed at the 12:10 Festival Show, singing songs including "Lovely Day" and "Here Comes the Sun." For the 12:35 p.m. show, a highlight of the Senior Vocal Ensemble Majors and Minors performance was the song, "I am a Voice that Sings." In the introduction to the song, Conductor Dennis Creighton said: “This is about adding your voice to someone else’s voice. Giving someone who needs assistance that help, letting them know you will be there, and you will be a force for love in the world.” 

 

Following the Senior Orchestra Festival performance on Thursday, July 17, a Usdan parent remarked: “Usdan is different than school band; here, all the students really care, which makes for better music.

 

Thursday, July 17’s Senior Band performance ended with the audience continuing to clap as the Amphitheater lights turned off, signaling the end of the show. One goal of Festival is to grow student's appreciation for diverse forms of artistic expression, and the response to this week’s student performances really showcased the success of this goal. (And showed us what talented kids we have at Usdan!) 

 

After the Juniors and Seniors performed "RENT" in the Theater Department on Wednesday, July 16, the squad took over Friday, July 18's Festival with the highlights! "RENT" tells the story of a group of young artists navigating love, loss, and community in NYC.

 

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Calendar Highlights: Week 4

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Here is what's coming up next week!

Families of students are welcome to attend Festival and Theater performances. Festival performances will also be livestreamed, as well as recorded and posted, to our YouTube Channel. 

On most days the Usdan Leadership Team hosts lunches for Usdan parents, supporters, grandparents, and caregivers. If you would like to join us for lunch, email rsvp@usdan.org, preferably 24 hours in advance. 

On regular camp days, families do not need to RSVP to visit campus; just bring your 2025 Access Pass to ensure smooth entry onto campus. Please allow 20 minutes to get from Usdan's entrance to your destination. Visit the last page of the calendar for FAQs on visiting campus. 

 

Monday, July 21

Festival Performance: Junior Orchestra Majors

12:10 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: Junior Band Majors

12:35 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

 

Tuesday, July 22

Something Rotten by Senior Musical Theater

10:30 a.m. | Lucy Moses Theater | | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: Select Junior Dance Majors & Minors

12:10 | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: Select Senior Dance Majors & Minors

12:35 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

Something Rotten by Junior Musical Theater

1:30 p.m. | Lucy Moses Theater | Usdan Campus

The Addams Family by Children's Theater

1:30 p.m. | Hillside Theater | Usdan Campus

 

Wednesday, July 23

July Community Day

10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: 2025 Award Ceremony

12:10 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

 

Thursday, July 24

World premiere! Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Senior Musical Theater

10:30 a.m. | Lucy Moses Theater | Usdan Campus

Discovery Performance & Exhibition

11:00 a.m. | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: Junior Music Composition Majors

12:10 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: Senior Classical Music Composition Majors

12:35 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus

All Shook Up by Children's Theater

1:30 p.m. | Hillside Theater | Usdan Campus

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Junior Musical Theater

1:30 p.m. | Lucy Moses Theater | Usdan Campus

 

Friday, July 25

Spirit Friday: Love, Air, Butterfly Day

All day | Usdan Campus

The Outsiders by The Actor's Group

10:30 a.m. | Lucy Moses Theater | Usdan Campus

Festival Performance: 4A Lifer & Closing Ceremony

12:10 p.m. | McKinley Amphitheater | Usdan Campus