Nathaniel Bowditch School Drama Club Presents 'Honk'

Courtesy Carrie Post, Publicity Coordinator, NBS Drama Club 

What: NATHANIEL BOWDITCH SCHOOL DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS "HONK!" - a musical tale of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling."

When: Thursday, March 3; Friday, March 4, both at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 6, at 2 p.m.

What: The play is performed by students in Grades 5-8. We have 45 students performing in the cast, four stage crew, and one currrent student in the pit orchestra. There are an additional 12 performers in the pit orchestra (10 high school students and two adults), four of whom are Bowditch alums.

Kids help out with every aspect of the play. As part of the learning process, students play a huge role in building and painting the sets, organizing the back stage, running the lighting and sound, etc...

Honk! is the musical tale of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling."

Honk! is a major community effort. In addition to the 45 students involved, another 32 members of our community, ranging from SHS students, alum, parents, faculty members, and friends have come together to help mount this production. The support that we continue to receive from the Salem Community is tremendous. 

The cast spent many rehearsals hashing out difficult-to-discuss topics. Students wrote anonymous journal entries about how being different makes them feel (positive or negative). We worked on understanding how our own differences could unite in the common task of performing a play, and how those differences could help us. We also stressed the notion that you give 100% because you can and because you want to, not because someone else tells you to. I think a lot of these students really learned about themselves through this process. The music is really fun too.