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Canfield Players play off fortune cookie
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield High School students Nicole Nokes (left) and Alyssa Armstrong took inspiration from a fellow student and choreographed a ballet dance, which they performed at the fifth annual Synergy of the Arts Jan. 24.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield High School senior Alisha Boykin started the artistic chain for Synergy of the Arts by opening a special fortune cookie with a phrase which was to serve as the inspiration for her creation, a painting which she unveiled at the show Jan. 24.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield High School senior Megan Factor (left) took inspiration from a fellow student to design a dress for Synergy of the Arts, which was modeled by senior Michele Whiteleather at the show Jan. 24.
By ABBY SLANKER
Fortune cookies are supposed to tell someone what their future holds, but in the case of the Canfield High School Canfield Players, one fortune cookie started an artistic chain with the students gleaning inspiration from one another. The Canfield Players offered a vibrant performance of a variety of original artistic pieces in the Canfield High School auditorium during its fifth annual Synergy of the Arts Jan. 24.
Artists, poets, actors, singers, dancers, songwriters, seamstresses and a pianist shared in the performance. The students had to follow specific parameters when developing their original creations and could use any art form they wanted.
In September, the students signed up to work independently or in a group and were told they would have one week to come up with their creation once it was their turn. The first student, Alisha Boykin, then opened a special fortune cookie with a phrase which was to serve as the inspiration for her creation.
“The students blow me away every time with their artistic creations. The students say the inspiration they get from the previous student makes it easier to create their own artistic project. They say it narrows their focus,” said Becky Heikkinen, Canfield High School guidance counselor and Drama Club director.
At the end of the first week, Boykin had created a painting, which she showed to Alaina Fuller, who then took her inspiration and wrote a poem, which she read to the next group on the list, Nicole Nokes and Alyssa Armstrong. Nokes and Armstrong then choreographed a ballet dance, which inspired Jennifer McClune to create a piece of art. McClune’s art in turn inspired Marie Messuri to choreograph a dance for herself.
Matt Myers took inspiration from Messuri’s dance to write a script and act it out, which inspired a sculpture from Natalie Brown. Mikki Lesitsky then created a painting which led to an original song from Rosie Bresson.
Angela Pupino wrote a poem with inspiration from Bresson’s song, which then led to Dagmar Stahl creating a painting. Rock band members Will Brown, Nick Crescimanno, Jake Rizer, Peter Crescimanno and Sam Rantilla then took inspiration from that painting.
Elizabeth Vallas created digital art, while Megan Factor took inspiration from it to design a dress. Bailey Brocker created a painting which inspired Abby Sigler and Lindsay Green to create film animation. Taylor Mead wrote a piano and vocal composition, which inspired Kennedy Lisowski to choreograph a dance to end the chain.
Only Boykin was aware of the words that kicked off the whole process, having read the fortune cookie and each group had only seen the previous group’s finished project.
During the “Synergy of the Arts” performance, all the students were clued in to the original phrase and were able to see the chain of performances.
“These students are doing amazing things. They are so self-dedicated. We had one meeting in September to start the process and they were responsible for contacting the next person on the list on their own. We had one dress rehearsal and they were ready to go,” Heikkinen said.
The show was a fundraiser for the Canfield High School drama club and proceeds will go toward a new sound system for the school.