On January 17, Upper School students gathered for an in-depth acting/musical theater workshop led by Curt Branom and organized by music instructor Catherine Snider.

“I knew [Curt] would have a lot to offer so I wanted him to come down and do a [workshop] as soon as possible. […] I hope that the students saw from Curt the passion and time dedication it takes to be a performer. He’s so dynamic and I think it is great to see someone who has been doing this for such a long time,” Snider said.

During the workshop, Branom, a cast member from America’s longest-running musical revue, Beach Blanket Babylon, discussed his hectic performance schedule and offered advice to Harker performers in order to fully enhance their musical theater abilities.

After presenting a brief history of Beach Blanket Babylon with pictures and video clips of some of the best moments on the show, Branom personally helped two volunteers with a piece that they practiced for the workshop.

Anna Kendall (10), one of the volunteers who performed, found that the workshop was extremely helpful yet fun.

“This workshop was by far one of the most fun I have ever been to. I got a good idea of how to do character roles, what you can do to reach your maximum comic potential […] and of what performing in a long running, up-to-date show was like.”

Overall, many of the students enjoyed the workshop, and hope that such an opportunity will come again in the future.

“I thought [that the workshop] was very helpful [and] I definitely liked hearing what it is like to do eight shows a week because it is very inspirational to hear of someone doing what [we as performers] aspire to do,” Caroline Howells (9) said. “To add, he is hilarious and amazing! I could have listened to him for another week.”