“Do you want to buy chocolate?” is a question that almost every Lincoln Park student has heard since the beginning of the school year, but does anyone know why?
Near the end of every school year since 2015 the Thespian Society has taken a trip to Canada to attend two performances at the Stratford and Shaw Festivals. They sell chocolate as a way to help defer the cost of the trip.
Each festival has its own theme, repertoire, and set design.
“The Ontario Stratford Festival tends to be a little bit Shakespeare based,” said Mr. Tom Schaller, the director of the theatre department at Lincoln Park. “And the Shaw Festival is based upon the writings and work of George Bernard Shaw.”
Most years, they attend one musical and one play, but this year they will be attending two musicals: Annie and Anything Goes.
This isn’t the first time they had to alter the tradition. From 2020-2022, they were unable to go to Canada due to the pandemic. When they resumed these trips in 2022, the Thespian Society went to Cedar Point instead of Canada, as they were unable to confirm every student had received vaccinations. They started leaving the country again in 2023, making this year the third trip they will make since their break during the pandemic.
When asked why they choose to go to Canada as opposed to somewhere else, such as New York, which is closer and home to Broadway, Mr. Schaller listed a multitude of reasons, such as the cost and the availability of tickets. The biggest reason, however, was so they could expose students to the larger world of theater. Mr. Schaller described it as, “Seeing these kids who are probably, like, ‘Wicked is my favorite thing in the world,’ and they go see Hamlet, and they come out and they’re like, ‘oh, that’s amazing.’”
Students corroborate that one of the most enjoyable things about the trip is coming to know theater outside of the confines of Broadway.
Olivia DeJeet, a senior musical theater major from Cranberry, said, “It’s just a really exciting trip because it brings in so many new perspectives, and I knew that some of this art I wasn’t gonna find in Midland, Pennsylvania.”
In regards to activities outside of the performances, Mr. Shaller said that he enjoyed the country’s scenery and its similarity to small towns here in Pennsylvania.
“It’s kinda like you were walking down the town of Beaver,” said Mr. Shaller, “but they happen to have world class theaters.”
DeJeet shared a similar opinion. “I do love seeing the shows, but I also just love seeing the little towns that we get to go to just because it’s sort of like a little downtown Beaver type area.”
Other students who had been on the trip before warned against the dangers of not being fully prepared. “I wish I prepared for the weather. I expected it to be really warm, and I got there and it was super cold, and I did not prepare for that,” said Tristan Heavner, a junior musical theater major from Baden.
From form to freezing, Canadian fashion was clearly a topic of confusion for students as they prepared for the trip.
“What to wear was something that I was contemplating because some days we went to workshops, and other days we’d go see shows,” said Megan Michel, a junior theater major from Hopewell, “So you have to be casual enough to go to a workshop but also to go to a show.”
