Eagles to Perform in Theater Festival in Scotland

For the first time in the history of , students and staff associated with the school’s theatre department have been awarded the national honor of an invitation to the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival, in Scotland.

The theater students and staff will join a prestigious troupe from the American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF), a forum that runs in conjunction with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is designed to allow American high school drama students to display their work internationally.

“I have been sitting on this momentous news for a couple of weeks now, but waited patiently for them (AHSTF) to send me the official letter of acceptance electronically,” ERHS Theater Director Russell Copley told Eagle Rock Patch shortly after being notified of the prestigious invitation last Friday.

Hundreds of American high schools—both public and private—apply every year for the opportunity to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, Copley said, adding: “We have a mountain to climb in raising the necessary funds, but with a bit of help from the community, we will achieve our goal, and give Eagle Rock pride of place at the world's biggest theatre festival in 2013.”

State, regional and national theater directors as well as professors who teach theater at universities nominate high school drama departments for the American High School Theater Festival. Eagle Rock High was chosen because of its philosophy toward training students in theater, according to the AHSTF letter that Copley received.

In May 2010, Eagle Rock High became the first-ever LAUSD school to be certified by the International Baccalaureate program, a global initiative in which students learn to make connections not just among various academic disciplines but with their own lives.

The ERHS theater department is known for using professionals from the community to mentor students—and for students to mentor each other.

Last month, Eagle Rock High School performed “Cancel Christmas,” a play in which a stage crew comprised of high school students supported middle-school actors for a largely elementary school audience.  

The school’s next play, “La Llorona,” scheduled in May, adopts a similar, community-based pedagogical approach. An adaptation of the works by Carlos Morton’s “La Malinche” and Euripides’ “Medea,” the play revolves around the military and cultural invasion by the Spanish conquistadors of the Aztec Empire.

It’s a monumental undertaking in every way. Top professionals from the community, such as Hollywood art director Matt Russell and professional dancer Alli Gray, will work with students, who will spend Saturdays constructing sets for the play.