Bold & Beloved: The Arts at Milton

“Well, it’s not just that there are plenty of opportunities and lots going on,” said one new faculty member. “What you have here is Olympic-level arts.” He spoke up at a professional day focused on the balance between students’ intellectual and personal development.

What gave him that impression?

This fall, barely had Man of La Mancha closed, a broadly staged musical featuring more than 50 students – acting, singing in solos and choruses, fencing, dancing, managing the lights, sound and technical effects – on an intricate and imaginative set they had built, when Medea opened, with a completely different cast. Medea was one of two off-main stage productions (1212 Plays as they are called) staged at Milton each year; mounted in less time and with less technical support, these productions allow greater numbers of students to experience a play, and they often take on complex subject matter discussed by the community long after the play’s run.
The perennially successful speech team secured the national championship last spring, for the second time in as many years. This fall, 10 “speechies,” as they’re affectionately called, secured second place in a University of Texas Longhorn tournament, losing by a mere nine points to the top place school that brought more than 50 team members.

Ninety students (from Classes IV–I) tried out this winter for the spring dance concert. Bill T. Jones, world-renowned dancer and choreographer, fired up audiences of Milton students recently, as did the Paul Taylor 2 Dancers.

The Chamber Orchestra was the only high school orchestra invited to play at the annual convention of the Massachu-setts Music Educators Association; a Milton Academy jazz combo played at the White House twice in the last decade, and earned three national awards. The jazz combo has been invited to play at the elite Cambridge jazz spot, the Regattabar, just before they leave for a fourth Milton Academy South Africa tour.

As a result of a relationship with Facing History and Ourselves (an organization that involves students in citizenship education and the study of history), Milton student art has appeared in exhibitions at the De Cordova Museum, at the Boston Public Library, at the 25th anniversary Facing History dinner at the Westin Hotel, and at “All That Jazz” – a conference at Harvard on adolescent development. Among 350 works by students from 20 schools at last year’s “Art with a Social Conscience” exhibit, Milton students won 28 awards.

Two Milton seniors won national poetry awards last spring, and two other writers were named ARTS scholars in the nationwide competition of the National Foun-dation for Advancement in the Arts. These are fairly typical annual occurrences at Milton.

With 660 students in Classes I–IV, Milton is a small school for this level of arts activity. The middle school, Classes V and VI, has its own mighty program developing steam. Besides being a place that Gordon Chase, visual arts department chair, calls “the land of invention and initiative,” how does this happen at Milton, and how does it affect the School?

As with any potent mix, the Milton arts world is a product of dynamic forces: a particular educational philosophy in approaching the arts; creative, talented, and relentless faculty and students; a legacy building upon itself all the time; a nurturing environment; and supportive physical resources.

Focused on the gold?
The irony is that faculty are not driven by these prizes. They don’t locate the student stars and run with the talent. Their approach is the opposite. “We don’t begin with the assumption that within a class there will be some who are ‘natural’ talents and others who are not,” says Gordon Chase. “We start with the idea that everyone has a possibility of success and of growth. We expect them all to succeed and our expectation lets them know that they can express themselves in art. As a result, great numbers of students succeed; they do work of extraordinary quality, and take that work to higher levels through several years.”

“Our performances are at a high level of quality,” says David Peck (performing arts chair), “yet we cast a wide variety of students. We find ways to use students without obvious skill; they find themselves in the lineup, and they come together to do something they’ve never done before.”

“In fact,” Peter Parisi (performing arts) notes, “other faculty often recommend students to us who may not appear to be succeeding; they need to experience the thrill of demonstrating a skill, the focus of a sustained commitment, the responsibility of participating in a group with a challenging goal. We’ll be auditioning for Antigone soon, and I don’t have a clue who will turn out to be Antigone.”
“You are allowed to find the artist in you,” Patrice Jean-Baptiste ’88 (performing arts, speech team) explains. “You don’t have to come ‘finished.’”

Intense coaching; exhilarating teamwork
The developmental importance of arts participation for young people at Milton is hard to overestimate. Students experience intense individual attention and coaching along with an exhilarating team experience. They spend hours with dedicated adults who use a wide range of teaching or directing skills, who have diverse and respected talents, who set the highest standards for students’ performance, and who honor each student’s contribution. “It takes courage to act on stage,” says Poornima Kirby (Class II), “You must give your character total integrity – you must be who she is. So you run the risk of being taken as your character. You must know who you are, truly, to take on the weaknesses of your character. Performing is a very social action, and as a person who is happy being myself and not very ‘social,’ theater has really helped me grow. Every day at Milton I wake up a new person, a changed person. I’m able to take on more and try something new.”

The sheer size of the program, the seriousness of the work undertaken, forces students to take on roles that in other schools are reserved for adults. “I am proud that everything that was built for Man of La Mancha, everything that was hung (lighting), was done by students,” says David Peck. “Our approach, consistently, has to do with giving them responsibility to problem-solve. We point to the task, ask good questions, set them to it, talk about it, and stand nearby to prod or nudge, if necessary, and the finished product is their own.”

“They leave with the ability to lead,” Dar Anastas (performing arts) puts it, simply. In addition to a five-play season directed by faculty, there are, this year, four student-directed plays. Class II speech-team students coach the prize-winning middle school speech team; speechies routinely coach each other, as well. The Arts Board takes on decorating the campus and making sure that visual arts are part of daily campus life. Students organize popular beatnik cafés on the weekend, orchestrating student music performances and poetry readings. Any number of independent a capella groups join the Miltones and Octets at assemblies these days, started by students who just won’t be denied the opportunity to practice and perform for their peers. Arts and commentary publications proliferate; students are the editors, writers, artists, photographers, judges, designers and publishers.

One of the students’ favorite activities, they will tell you, is watching their peers in performance or seeing their work on exhibition. Mirroring their adult mentors, students value artists in the school community, and their work. Just as the faculty do, they stretch to meet expectations, exceed them, and in the process experience new ground. “I’ll set the bar here,” Peter Parisi says, “and they meet and raise it. That makes directing fun.”

“I love the realization that I am still an artist, myself,” says Patrice Jean-Baptiste, “even in teaching the art.” Milton’s willingness to say yes to things, faculty members agreed in a discussion, keeps them energized, innovative, and receptive to working with each other’s ideas. They unanimously agree – no surprise – that Milton’s arts requirement, a full year of study, is wise.

Many things about arts education at Milton have not changed in decades. Students and faculty feed on each other’s energy. Work they undertake is serious and challenging, rather than familiar. The School not only supports but also celebrates their work, and the artists – students and adults – find synergies between art projects, the subject matter of academic disciplines and today’s current events.

Managing growth
Many things have changed, however, beginning with the size of the programs. “We now have two orchestras; there was one small one when I came,” chronicles Don Dregalla (music department chair). “We have 110 students in the larger orchestra, and I have scheduled 271 students in private lessons this year. On the vocal side, the Glee Club is still the core of the program, as it has been traditionally at Milton, but we’ve added the Chamber Singers, a Class IV chorus and even a middle school chorus. Our jazz groups are strong and growing: Bob Sinicrope (music department) teaches three levels and manages seven or eight jazz combos each year. At this winter’s concert, 250 students played or sang. Our emphasis as a department is on performance; that might seem obvious, as a strategy, but it’s not. The program now builds on itself. Word is out; Milton has a reputation as a place where a student can have a great academic experience, and have his music supported. We send 45 students to the New England Conservatory each weekend for its program. People are practicing in all of Kellner’s practice rooms, all the time.”

Older students set the standards
The creative writing program is another area of extraordinary growth. Lisa Baker and Jim Connolly (both of the English department) teach five sections of creative writing, beginning and advanced. Stu-dents can continue with independent tutorials in creative writing. Commenting on the program’s popularity, Jim notes the leadership among upper class students. “The younger students aspire to follow in the steps of the strong juniors and seniors whose writing, and love of writing, permeates the workshops and classroom walls. Our students are young people with a literary sensibility when they come here; some are just waiting for the chance to get the training formally,” he says. Both Lisa and Jim describe the program as rigorous; students learn craft and aesthetics, the artistic principles that underlie the best writing, and ultimately apply to all art forms. In Lisa and Jim’s workshops, where students react to each other’s work, the dialogue in April is light years from that in September. Students apply the principles they newly understand, so that a spring comment from a student might be, “Do you know why I think this story shouldn’t end with an irony?” The students’ growth over time spills into their sophisticated analysis of other art: film, photography and painting, et cetera. Lisa and Jim’s students enter their work (poetry and fiction) in seven national competitions – carefully selected contests based on their quality and stature – and one state competition each year. Milton students are routinely among the winners, and their work is consistently represented in national publications and at conferences.

Three faculty members now support the speech team. The team includes 65 Upper School students, and an additional 35 middle school speech-team members who “take their art very seriously,” according to Patrice Jean-Baptiste, who accompanied them to the junior national tournament last spring. The dance program has tripled in size over the last 10 years, produces one full dance concert each spring, and is planning a second. Six faculty members teach drama and technical theater, and direct plays. The department will stage eight plays this year, including Man of La Mancha, Medea, The Boys Next Door, Antigone, Romeo and Juliet and I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Furthermore, the performing arts department is the only department in the Upper School that supports programs from Kindergarten through Class I. From oral interpretation and the sixth-grade play in the Lower School, through the middle school play, speech team and chorus, performing arts is a robust, school-wide program.

More than 100 students are now enrolled in advanced visual arts courses, including a new program in digital imaging, developed by Bryan Cheney. The quality of the Nesto Gallery exhibits has deepened; they are often reviewed by the Boston press. And the astounding student art exhibits in the Nesto only punctuate a steady stream of art hung all over the campus, from Forbes Dining Hall to Straus, Kellner and Ware.

Endowed funds spark gratitude among faculty members, and extend the possibilities of what they’re able to attempt and achieve. Faculty across all arts fields point to the inauguration of the Melissa Dilworth Gold Visiting Artist Fund in 1993 as a key development. This fund brings artists of national and even international stature to campus to work with students for one to several days. These visiting artists intensify students’ awareness of outstanding skill, true excellence and the commitment required by the arts. They have provided thrilling interaction for young artists, and awarded great stature to the work of creating art. Faculty comment that the artists themselves are surprised how aware Milton students are, and how prepared they are to engage.

Kellner Center fuels new synergies
The opening of the Kellner Performing Arts Center in 1992 triggered a profound change in Milton arts history. Spaces in the building are ideal for teaching and performing, and make new initiatives possible. The proximity of arts faculty and students to each other has had a powerful, if predictable, effect on the richness and the quality of the performing arts at Milton. The building is literally bursting at the seams from morning until after dark, with people busy in their respective fields, sharing ideas, appreciating each other, collaborating with each other. The synergy made possible by the building itself is clear on a day-to-day basis.

Gordon Chase believes his department has been patient and resourceful, and along with the visual arts faculty, he is eager to experience the same lift, drive and opportunity the Kellner Performing Arts Center has given Milton. Gordon is eager to gather the whole department under one roof, a promise of the current master plan for the academic buildings at Milton. Bringing people together will facilitate the department’s enriching of the strong traditional arts curriculum, and its focus on helping students make connections to their culture. His vision is to add to that a strong design theme, developments in the domain where art meets science. “We want our students to use the tools of our times, ranging from the hand to the computer, to solve design problems. We would like to initiate projects that incorporate invention, kinetics, mechanics, and electronics, connecting ‘low tech’ with ‘high tech’ on projects in which something actually has to ‘work.’”

Anticipating a visual arts center is both a challenge and an opportunity. It must serve the expansive size and advanced levels of our programs. Moving to high-end technology, for instance, opens doors and sets new expectations, but Bryan Cheney notes that it occasions the consideration of what older processes can be given up without undue loss, such as dark and wet photo-processing. As the master plan renovations provide new academic classrooms, Peter Parisi mourns the loss of two intimate venues that – in addition to Kellner – had been used for performance, Room 1212 in Warren and 3203 in Wigg. Dar Anastas states that the demands of our healthy theater program render us “technically stretched.” Mostly, the faculty wonders how to do more, enrich, and improve with the same energy, space and time. They have created life-altering, beloved programs for students, and want only to accomplish more. “I think it’s remarkable,” Debbie Simon (performing arts) says, “when I’m in touch with graduates, that arts experiences come so vividly to mind for them. It’s almost palpable – how much it meant to them, what a difference it made.”

Cathleen Everett