Arts Brochure

the Burgin Center:��,�� SQUARE FEET OF ARTISTIC HEAVEN.

The Burgin Center is where you learn—and live—the arts.It’s where you can be Hamlet or Pippin. It’s where youcan learn to throw pots or to pirouette. Where you canplay Bach or Basie, Bernstein or Beastie Boys. It’s whereyou perform in musicals like Grease, Into the Woods, andBrigadoon, or serious dramas like The Diary of Anne Frank.It’s where you experience world-class artists live inperformance, such as Oscar-nominated composer PhilipGlass, the incomparable violinist Itzhak Perlman, or therenowned Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Burgin houses the 600-seat Simon Theatre, a handsome,traditional proscenium stage with a full fly tower;sophisticated lighting and sound capabilities; completescene, prop, and costume shops; and an orchestra pit with a hydraulic lift.

On the more experimental front, there is the 120-seat HaleStudio Theatre, often described as “the black box” or thetheatre-in-the-round. More intimate and flexible, it’s thehome of the annual student-directed one-acts and otherexperimental works.

There are spacious dance and art studios, an art gallery,rehearsal rooms, and recording facilities. Throughout, the Burgin Center combines simple but important things,such as natural light and plenty of space, with advancedaccommodations, such as digital-art and music labs orspecialty high-tech flooring in the dance studios.

WE DON’T JUST THINK YOU’RE AN ARTIST,

we know you are.Everybody has the right stuff to be an artist in some way, shape,or form. All it takes is a little structured exploration. By cultivatingyour unique creativity, you will invite a richness and texture intoyour life and your education—something that will stimulate yourmind and spirit in diverse and surprisingly positive ways.

We’re not a conservatory, though many students arrive withimpressive experience. No student ever needs to arrive with priorexperience in any art form, just a sincere desire to explore anddiscover. It is totally normal for a Mercersburg student to tackle a role onstage for the first time or experience having a painting or sculpture in a public exhibit.

Students quickly learn that to “make it” as artists at Mercersburg,they must have superior dedication and focus, while they come to understand that being an artist is as much about collaborationand teamwork as it is about personal expression.

300 E. Seminary Street, Mercersburg, PA 17236

717-328-6173 www.mercersburg.edu

definethe artist in you.

T H E A R T S

Please consider this my personal invitation to come and define yourself in

|ways that only the arts can provide. The arts have existed

throughout human history as a way of knowing oneself

and making sense of one’s experiences in the world. At

Mercersburg, the arts faculty focus on building creativity,

competence, and confidence within each of the disciplines.

Our curriculum will open your eyes to your total potential

as a young artist and student. Consistently, my students

tell me that when they are fully engaged artistically, they

also perform better in their non-arts classes and activities.

No prior arts experience is required whatsoever!

Denise DaltonHead, Fine Arts DepartmentDirector of Dance

C To minimize the impact on the environment, thispublication is printed on paper made with 30% processchlorine-free post-consumer recycled fiber. The paper is also FSC and SFI chain of custody certified and100% of the electricity used to manufacture the paper is Green-e certified renewable energy. The inkscontain a high proportion of renewable vegetable-based ingredients.

Mercersburg Academy abides by both the spirit and theletter of the law in all its employment and admissionpolicies. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ornational or ethnic origin.

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arts curriculum: IT ’S A GRADUATION REQUIREMENT.

The arts at Mercersburg are anything but extracurricular.Our stages, rehearsal rooms, art studios, and scene shopsare very much real classrooms, not unlike the court or the field, the pool or the diamond.

All students take two terms (credits) of art, music, or theatre in the 10th-grade year. Many students takeadditional courses in subsequent years and perform inrelated groups. Credit is given for Chorale, Band, and otherperforming groups: one full credit is earned for a full year’smembership (three terms) in a performing group.

the literary arts: ALIVE AND WELL AND WAXINGWONDERFULLY AT MERCERSBURG.

Mercersburg’s annual literary-arts magazine, Blue Review,combines all forms of written and visual self-expression andyear after year wins national awards for outstanding writingand editing, design and layout, artwork, and overall concept.There is also our prestigious literary club, known as TheFifteen, whose members are seniors who meet regularly todiscuss literature with faculty. It’s a sophisticated little after-dinner society: desserts, discussion, and the distinct feeling of being equals and colleagues.

visual arts: YOUR CANVAS WON’T BE BLANK FOR LONG.

In Mercersburg’s studio arts program, students learn to takerisks and master their fear of making mistakes. Coursesinclude media ranging from ceramics to digital video art,sculpture, painting, and drawing. Student artwork is displayedin the Burgin Center for the Arts’ Cofrin Gallery and across thecampus.

What’s more, Mercersburg students regularly win prizes injuried arts competitions. Any number of our students havereceived Gold or Silver Key Awards in art at the CentralPennsylvania Regional Scholastic Arts Awards, the longest-running and most prestigious awards program for creativeyoung students in the United States.

The faculty are themselves working artists, and Mercersburgstudents routinely produce works that win regional and nationalawards. For challenge and inspiration, student works hangalongside that of professionals in the Burgin Center’s Cofrin Gallery.

Course offerings:Introduction to DanceDance Composition IDance Composition IIDance Composition IIIActing IActing II: Improvisation TechniquesActing II: Advanced Scene StudyActing III: Advanced EnsembleFundamentals of DesignPhysics of TheatreStagecraftSpeechBand PerformanceChoral PerformanceString PerformanceThe History of MusicMaking Music: Guitar & DrumsMusic Theory IMusic Theory IIMusic Theory IIIWriting Music for Today’s WorldCeramics ICeramics IIComputer ArtDigital Video ArtDrawing IDrawing IIPainting IPainting IISculpture ISculpture IIAdvanced Studio ArtAdvanced Topics in Ceramics:

Personal NarrativeAdvanced Topics in

Ceramics: SetsAdvanced Topics in

Ceramics: TeapotsAP Art History

dancing IS DISCOVERY.

Dance has a way of making total converts out of the most avid skeptics. Students (often guys, but not always) inevitablyarrive at school saying loudly “Not me!” whenever dancing ismentioned. Then they see the first student dance concert ofthe year, and suddenly you’ll hear from these same students,“Hey, I want to do that!”

When we ask students to list the things they have tried for the first time at Mercersburg, many mention dance. Perhapsthat’s the result of the enthusiastic instruction, the guestartists from New York City, Chicago, and around the world, ortheir first realization that dance requires all of the physicalityand flexibility of athletics, if not more. Mercersburg’s facilitiesare extraordinary, too. Dance studios have floor-to-ceilingmirrors, ballet barres, costume rooms, and even floorsspecifically designed for dancers’ shoes.

Mercersburg dancers present two major productions a year,representing dance styles ranging from ballet to flamenco to swing. In addition to performing, students serve as lighting designers, stage managers, sound engineers, and choreographers. Each production features the work of guest choreographers in addition to that of the Academy’sdance director and even student choreographers.

Outside the curriculum, students can take beginning throughadvanced levels of modern and ballet as afternoon activities. In addition, students occasionally organize and teach danceclasses in genres such as salsa, hip-hop, and step.

music: THE BEAT RARELY STOPS AT MERCERSBURG.

Whether you are a singer or an instrumentalist, you can takeadvantage of numerous performing ensembles. Singers learnskills like proper breathing, tone production, and sight-singing;instrumentalists play jazz, classical, and everything in between.Students can receive academic credit for participating in certain ensembles.

All bands, ensembles, and singing groups perform publicly in the Burgin Center. The Chapel Choir performs atBaccalaureate, the String Ensemble during family weekends, TheOctet might travel to Disney World or the Kennedy Space Center,while the Band and Chorale combine music and communityservice by performing at local schools and retirement centers,plus Evensong at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Performing groups:The OctetMagaliaThe ChoraleThe Concert BandThe Jazz BandThe Percussion EnsembleThe Chapel ChoirThe String Ensemble

Stony Batter Players: OUR WORLD IS YOUR STAGE.

Named for President James Buchanan’s birthplace, which isjust down the highway from the Academy, Mercersburg’sStony Batter theatre company is more than 100 years old. Outof Mercersburg’s alumni have come two Oscar-winning actors,Jimmy Stewart ’28 (The Philadelphia Story, Rear Window, It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and BenicioDel Toro ’85 (Traffic, Che, The Usual Suspects, and Wolfman).

Annually, Stony Batter produces two big fall productions, amajor musical, one-acts, Shakespeare scenes, and a seniorproduction. In addition to those mentioned earlier, recentproductions have included Arsenic and Old Lace, Pride andPrejudice, The Breakfast Club, and scenes from Shakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice. With all this,including lighting, stage management, and set construction,it’s easy for all students, not just actors, to find ways to getinvolved and be creative.

Artwork from Blue Review

T H E A R T S

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