Montgomery High School students premiere original musical, ‘Surface’

“There is no definitive answer or solution; there is just the moment,” remarks junior, Damien Doane. He is one of 25 students from the Montgomery Area Junior/Senior High School who seized their individual moments during the premiere of their original musical, Surface, performed as part of the school’s Music in Our Schools month activities. The musical was a collaborative effort between advanced theatre and songwriting classes and featured personal monologues and with live and digital instrumentation compositions woven together. Co-teachers, Brian Rehn and Carina McNear are in agreement that “in Arts Education, we have the privilege of encouraging students to present their most authentic talents and personalities.” Surface allowed the students involved to create based on their individual talents and beliefs. While titling the collaborative project, participants agreed that, while they want to believe authenticity can be carried over into all other aspects of their lives, the reality is that much of day to day existence is only on the surface.