Abbi Mansur

2024-2025 Saugus theater cast

At Saugus high school, the arts program allows students to express themselves through passions of acting, drawing, writing, and singing. Valued for creativity, the school as a unity always shows up to support these students in action. The Theater, Literary Magazine and Choir programs utilize proactivity to create new goals to represent Saugus’ artistic side. No matter if students perform on stage or create new door murals, they always encourage motivation to not only themselves, but also to the individuals around them.

While many Saugus students are still adjusting to new schedules and classes, our theater program begins their audition process for the winter play Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors. To get an inside student perspective of the steps it takes to earn a role, dedicated senior, Abbi Mansur, explains, “For auditions, each person gets to audition for the role that they most want, then Ms. Painter figures out the puzzle from there.” Gina Painter, the director of Saugus theater, always places the adolescent actors and actresses, like Abbi, into roles that fit them best. Abbi describes further into the details of auditions, “She’ll have people read unexpected roles to try and see who has the best chemistry and who seem the most natural together.” The proactiveness of the program shows commitment to what these students love: acting and singing. This year, theater contains twenty seniors, eight juniors, fifteen sophomores, and eight freshmen to represent the program.

Now, taking a look into the artists of Saugus, Literary Magazine (Lit Mag) is a creative class showcasing the writers and drawers. Brant Botton, the teacher who advises the class, inspires his students to promote art around campus. The purpose of promoting the club is to influence Saugus artists to submit their best artwork or writing to “The Centinal,”, a book featured in an end of the year festival. Taking a closer look into Lit Mag from a student lens, senior editor Tanner Shih elucidates, “We are constantly working to create representative art via posters, murals, sketches, paintings, pottery, poems, short stories, and any imaginable (or unimaginable) medium of art.” Moreover, in this first month of school, students in Literary Magazine actively fundraise and collect ideas for new door murals. The editor comments, “Yes, we are always working on new posters promoting fundraisers, events, and student submissions to our magazine. Also, our murals, on the wall of P1606, which are updated every few weeks, showcase a great deal of student art work within the class and promote current of upcoming major events.” By Saugus high school allowing Literary Magazine to promote the student voice through art and writing around campus all year, talented teens can create artistic messages and stay heard. 

Lastly, the Saugus choir program leads a gateway for singers on the campus to showcase their different vocals. Katie Holt, the choir educator, speaks on the curriculum students are currently learning. “This week in choir we are busy learning our new songs for the semester. We’re also playing get to know you games, learning some music theory, and getting used to our classroom routines.” Excited for this upcoming year, the five choirs of Saugus prepare for upcoming performances for the fall of 2024 and spring of 2025, Ms. Holt informs, “ We have 5 different choirs, they range from 18 students (Jazz Choir) to 45 students (Show Choir). The whole program has over 100 students this year!” As this high school provides multiple opportunities for different singing talents, Saugus utilizes all choirs for school events. 

Welcoming this new school year, Saugus high school does its part to include all artists on campus within clubs and classes. Theater, Literary Magazine and Choir promote their artistic students acting, drawing, writing and singing – adding diversity and inclusion to the campus.