Students Scream & Cry with Joy at First Glimpse of Arts Center

Click. Clack. Click. BANG BANG BANG! Click. Clack. BANG BANG!
Students rushed to their classes in the shadow of the construction site. The noise had bathed the school for nine months, becoming as normal as the view of Los Angeles from the classroom windows. I viewed the progress of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s up and coming Arts Center, and it was finally looking remotely like what we had seen in the drawings. Watching the workers climb the scaffolding that circled the theater, many questions came to mind. Why isn’t it finished? How will it look? What is taking so long? When can I perform on that stage? BOOM! A noise from the construction site broke my daydreaming. I hurried off to class and replaced my excitement about the Arts Center with thoughts of my chemistry homework.

Now that Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s Arts Center it is about to open, I think about how the FSHA community felt about the construction. I remember being really excited last year, when the school administration announced that the old theatre, which had been a forum for so many inspiring visual and performing events, was going to be remodeled into one “that would take FSHA’s arts [program] to the next level” (Maggie Maguire ’18).

It was clear to me that FSHA students, who are so artistically talented, would soon have a space that would further enhance their abilities.

It was clear to me that FSHA students, who are so artistically talented, would soon have a space that would further enhance their abilities. However, as is typical in construction, the remodel opening was postponed. The delay only made the students and faculty more eager to see the opening. As the months rolled on, we grew restless in constant anticipation, wanting to see the advancement of those new building augmentations we heard so much about.

I know I was incredibly jealous of the visual and performing art teachers who got to closely oversee the building process, while it was largely kept a mystery from the student body. I remember on the last night of “The Tempest,” FSHA’s spring production, Director Mr. Bommarito roused the performers’ enthusiasm when he said that “the new theater will be open soon and we will make it our home again.” Everyone was eager to be back in their own building, enjoying its enhancements.

Following the first day of Easter Break, the theatre was finally completed. All could come and gawk at the precision lighting, professional sound and those permanent seats. Entering the new building, a mix of excitement and speechlessness overwhelmed me. A year and a half had passed and finally, we were back in our completely unrecognizable, but familiar theatre. I was flabbergasted at how technically developed and elegant the interior was. The stage seemed to beg to be danced on, the walls to be sung to and the audience to be stirred. Two by two, I climbed the escalated seating to peek inside the tech booth with all that new equipment.

We were laughing and screaming and crying together [when we entered the Arts Center] because the theater remodel was done– and we were finally home.

I thought to myself, “This is a techie’s dream come true!” As I turned around to view the auditorium in its entirety, I let out a breath and collapsed into one of the cozy seats. I watched as a swarm of theatre students ran through the front doors, over the rose-patterned red velvet carpet and into the theatre where they jumped up on the stage, dancing together at the abundance of all that new space. We were laughing and screaming and crying together because the theater remodel was done– and we were finally home.