John Diefenbaker Senior School (JDSS) students recently took to the stage in their first musical since the days of the pre-pandemic.
"Masks Off", which was written and directed by JDSS teacher Rebekah Walker, tells the heartwarming story of a secondary school struggling to put itself back together again after a few years of COVID shutdowns.
Alex Miller, performed by Aaron Lindsay, was the music teacher and director of an award-winning school choir. Now he is feeling jaded about singing, and reluctant to risk giving up the energy necessary to bring back the program. Enter Kolton (Jeremy Masse), the energetic son of the school principal (Oscar Hulskemper), who has been waiting for years to be old enough to join the choir, and his best friend Jay (Kolivon Hyacinthus), who loves singing but has his own lingering trauma to overcome. The Winter Arts show is coming. Maybe it will be the answer they have all been looking for.
JDSS Music teacher, Rachael Murray, directed the pit band and performers through a broad range of musical numbers, including excerpts from "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" and "Walking on Sunshine".
"Masks Off" was a full school effort as stage management, set building and painting, cookie baking, program and poster design, technical directing, and on-call coverage were all provided by teachers within the school. Seeing students perform the poignant content about overcoming mental health struggles as the masks came off allowed the audience to reflect on the real challenges that have been faced in schools during the last few years.