TORONTO -- The pandemic may prevent people from attending the annual holiday showcase at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, but the show will still go on – virtually.
“We needed to do something for the kids so they would feel they have a reason and a purpose for coming to school,” Danielle Devereaux, the high school’s artistic director, said.
Devereaux and other performing arts teachers decided in late October on how they can safely put on the showcase that has entertained the school community for more than 30 years while still adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.
Over the course of three weeks, performing arts students worked on the production that includes singing, dancing and sketches. They worked with a professional videographer and editor who help produced the showcase that will streamed on the platform showTix4U.
“Originally, when I thought the show wasn’t going to happen, I was pretty bummed out, but to find out we get to do an adaptation of the show is really great,” said Grade 12 student Jason Moffatt, who has been performing in the showcase for the past four years.
Before production could begin, there were several obstacles to overcome and performances had to be adapted due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“One of the biggest challenges is we couldn’t be close to one another … especially for comedy scenes and dances … a lot of that stuff had to do with touch,” said Grade 12 student Mason Mathews. “We still to have wear our masks.”
The students were divided into cohorts of 15 and each group was responsible for its own performance. Each performance had to ensure the students were spaced at least two meters from one another with no physical contact.
The performances were filmed individually inside and outside the school.
“We have our own boxes on the ground to ensure we are two meters from each other,” said Grade 12 student Theron Ackloo.
Public health guidelines also restricted students from actually singing in the school and the entire band couldn’t physically perform together due to cohort limits. Instead, the students individually recorded their performances at home and it was all seamlessly pieced together through the magic of editing.
“They would learn the performances from their teachers and when in the virtual class at home that’s when they would sing and then when we did the video we had the kids on stage lip syncing,” Devereaux said.
Approximately 200 performing arts students contributed to the hour and half showcase.
“I feel like if anything we put a lot more effort into this one than anything we’ve ever done before because we wanted to make up for the fact that it can’t be in person,” said Grade 12 student Taliah Naicken .
“I hope it can bring joy to people, it’s been a rough year,” said Ackloo.
The showcase will be available to stream from Dec. 20 to Jan. 3. Tickets are $25 for a single viewing and $40 for a family/group viewing. All proceeds will support the performing arts programs and productions at Wexford Collegiate.
