2008 - 2009 Annual Report - St. John's-Kilmarnock School

Arts Report
The Visual Arts program is a dynamic and multi-disciplinary department directed by internationally
and nationally recognized sculptor Catherine Paleczny. The students are encouraged to work in
many mediums including, but not limited to: clay sculpture, printmaking, two-dimensional design,
life drawing, new media and mixed media. We are pleased to offer advanced placement courses in
two-dimensional and three-dimensional design. Through gallery and studio visits, the students are
exposed to a variety of artists and techniques. The year culminates with a show that is curated and
installed by the students.
The 2008–09 school year saw SJK's Upper School drama take on what was quite possibly its
greatest challenge to date in terms of our major production. Noises Off is a technically complex
farce that places extraordinary demands on the cast in terms of timing and pacing. When some
cast members saw a poorly produced amateur version of the play early in the school year, they
found it hard to believe that the play could be riotously funny and equally fun to produce. And yet it
was. Most challenging, from a production point of view, was the design and construction of a twolevel
set built on a revolving stage that rotated 180 degrees, twice, during the production. This
would not have been possible without the partnership arrangement we created with the King
Street Theatre Centre. After attempting for several years to work with this theatre, it was a great
experience to have access to such a wonderful facility and to the kind of technical expertise that
made the construction aspects of Noises Off possible. Sadly, SJK's production proved to be the
very last at the King Street Theatre Centre, which closed due to financial difficulty. We are hopeful,
however, that we will be able to continue our relationship with this theatre in its new incarnation
as the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts.
In addition to our major February production, senior drama students took part in the Conference of
Independent Schools' Drama Festival, held in late April at Bayview Glen. Their one-act play was
very well received by both audience and adjudicator. This play, along with a second one-act play
produced by the class, was also presented at our annual ArtsAroundsUs evening in May.
Drama classes attended a variety of professional productions throughout the year, from Stratford
to Shaw, and from local groups such as the Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Theatre to Soulpepper in
Toronto. A touring production in the Commedia Dell’Arte style also visited the school in the fall,
providing students who study this form of improvised Italian renaissance drama in class with a
unique opportunity to see it performed live. These kinds of enrichment activities round out and
enrich the challenging drama program offered here at SJK.
There are many talented writers at SJK and many of our young writers participated in the Elora
Writers’ Festival and our Writer in Residence Program. Every Thursday evening, a dedicated crew
of students displayed their talents in the “Poem Repair Shop.” Look for this entertaining radio
show to continue on Wednesday evenings in 2009–10.