Student Blogs
This blog post is by Emily Schweich, junior broadcast journalism major.
Telling the stories of war and the struggles of returning veterans can be a difficult task. Artists and journalists often fall back on cliche narratives and tropes to express the difficulties that these men and women face as they readjust to civilian life. Sometimes, some of the most important voices are left out of these stories – those of family and community members who are also touched by the perils of war.
As producer Anne Hamburger said in the conversation following the performance, AJ’s story was that of the “everyman.” His and Melissa’s experience reflected many common struggles that returning Marines and their families face.
This blog post is by Emily Schweich, junior broadcast journalism major.
My love affair with the tenor voice began in late high school. When I began seriously studying voice, I realized that not all tenors were pubescent boys who had to tip their chins to the ceiling in order to hit high notes. Since then, I’ve been hooked. A well-trained tenor voice is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world to me, and British tenor Mark Padmore delivered in his exquisite Clarice performance, a collaboration with American pianist Jonathan Biss.
It’s safe to stay that tenors are still my favorite voice part.
By Emily Schweich, junior broadcast journalism major at the University of Maryland.
To truly appreciate The Me Nobody Knows, one needs to understand where it came from.
The musical is based on the 1969 book The Me Nobody Knows: Children’s Voices from the Ghetto, which compiles the voices of 200 students from Harlem. Teachers encouraged these students, who were between the ages of 12 and 18, to write down their deepest thoughts, fears and concerns. The book’s editor, Stephen M. Joseph, asked his students to respond to four dimensions of their identity – how they see themselves, their neighborhoods, the world outside, and the things they can’t see or touch.
The result: A moving collection of young people’s voices that was adapted into a musical by Robert Livingston, Gary William Friedman, Will Holt and Herb Schapiro in 1970. Alvin Mayes and Scot Reese, co-directors of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies’ production, have situated these teenagers in a church basement, in a therapy/support group of sorts.