Theater
The OES 2025–26 Performing Arts Season
Great Hall Theater
Our show selection for this school year offers a window into the journeys of young people as they navigate the unknown with courage, creativity, and heart. In the fall show, A Wrinkle in Time, Meg and her companions travel across space and time to confront a universal darkness, discovering that love is their most powerful weapon against fear and conformity. In Emily Brontë: Teenage Ghosthunter, we celebrate the bonds of family and the courage to stand out as brave sisters face a ghostly mystery filled with gothic charm, humor, and a delightfully campy twist—proving that even in the darkest moments, love and laughter can shine through.
Together, these stories remind us that when the world grows uncertain, it is imagination, the boldness of youth, and the enduring power of love that light the way forward.
Capping off our season, the Spring Extravaganza amplifies student voices, showcasing dramatic writing, directing, choreography, live music, and video production. This student-created show will round out another year of supporting our students to exercise teamwork, stretch into creative risk, and build technical skills to convey a high level of intentionality in their artistic expression.
Spring Show
Spring Extravaganza created by OES students
May 13–16, 2025, 7 p.m.
Directed by: Emily Stone
The annual Spring Student Extravaganza is an extraordinary labor of love created by and for students as a showcase of performance-based work in multiple mediums including dance, theater, and video. The OES Performing Arts program believes in empowering students to envision and produce their own creative expression using the widest possible skill set, led by our graduating Performing Arts seniors. Join in the celebration of unique Upper School student voices in our community.
Excerpts of "Pluck" written by Jan Rosenberg, directed by Alexavia P.
Fifteen year-old Cleo and Bea are twins. Cleo can't stop running away from womanhood. Bea can't stop running away, period. Excerpts from a full-length play about gender identity, dysphoria, twins, and monsters.
"Landlines" written and directed by Drew M.
Jax’s life is turned upside down, when an unexpected tragedy shatters the "perfect" world she took for granted and ultimately pushes both her sanity and her friendships over the brink.
"The Sandman Cometh" written and directed by Gina P. with Mina L.
A retelling of the Sandman fairytale. Young Harvey must complete a series of tasks in order to win his family back from the Sandman (with help from Checkers the cat).
"Flight Risk" written and directed by Lee L.
A tech company CEO has just invented a new kind of airplane but is anxious about flying with his young daughter, who deals with her own worries by channeling them through her parrot puppet.
Additional Dance, Video, and Music: TBA
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Winter Show
Emily Brontë: Teenage Ghosthunter by Don Zolidis
Feb 25–28, 2026, 7 p.m.
Directed by: Lauren Cuellar
It’s 1835. Northern England. The moors. A terrifying phantom is haunting the Roe Head School for Girls, terrorizing students and driving the school near to extinction. It’s up to star pupil Emily Brontë—along with her spirited sisters Charlotte and Anne—to uncover the truth behind the haunting using their sharp wits, vivid imaginations, and, of course, a flair for ghost hunting. This ghostly, comedic mystery blends gothic charm, campy humor, and heartfelt sisterhood, celebrating family, creativity, and the courage to stand out.
We’re excited to bring this story to life with period costumes featuring swashbuckling steampunk flair and a spooky, Thriller-inspired graveyard dance scene. The production features stage combat, puppetry, and a full ensemble of ghosts, creating a campy gothic mystery that keeps family and connection at the heart of its message. Expect an atmosphere filled with wit, imagination, fog, and gothic fun—a delightfully campy theatrical experience for audiences of all ages.
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Fall Show
Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time adapted by Tracy Young
Nov 12–15, 2025, 7 p.m.
Directed by: Pete Buonincontro
One of literature's most enduring young heroines, Meg Murry, is back – braces, stubbornness, and all. When supernatural beings—Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which—arrive, they reveal to Meg, her brother, Charles Wallace, and their friend, Calvin O’Keefe, that their scientist father is missing and may be rescued through a tesseract—a fold in space and time. The team travels across dimensions, confronting cosmic darkness and battling forces of conformity so they can rescue Meg’s father, save humanity and learn to believe in themselves. In the end, we know two things for sure: 1. Love CAN overcome evil and 2. There IS such a thing as a tesseract.
Originally produced at the 2014 Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, and featuring a fresh framing device similar to the 80’s film The NeverEnding Story, this devised theater adaptation utilizes a flexible ensemble of 21 actors and re-imagines a classic, heart-warming story with a new spin. Suitable for Lower School and Middle School families, the adaptation includes visual effects, digital projections, and an ensemble cast that fluidly shares multiple roles.
To enhance your family's journey into this fantastical universe, we encourage children and their guardians to read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time to familiarize themselves with the characters and dynamic story arc.
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About Our Theater Program
Stage productions at OES are an opportunity for the practical application and further development of technical and acting skills learned in curriculum-based courses, serving to encourage students to become involved in the theatrical arts, as well as providing thought-provoking entertainment for the community.
The Visual, Performing, and Musical Arts Department is committed to providing the opportunity for students to participate in at least three fully-produced mainstage productions per year. We are committed to staging plays that align with our school mission and thus benefit the intellectual, cultural, spiritual, emotional, and artistic growth of our students. We strive to choose plays that are relevant to the community and that complement each other over the course of the year in style, content, and technical demand.
Our spring show is a student-driven (written, directed, produced), curriculum-based production, though all productions offer multiple levels of acting and technical challenge to meet students at appropriate developmental levels. Utilizing a mentorship model, OES mainstage productions offer leadership opportunities for our student directors, actors and technical crew. In all productions, we seek a creative, collaborative process and environment and encourage crossing disciplines, divisions, and departments, as well as involvement with the wider community.
