Middle School students in grades 6-8 performed the spring musical Annie on Saturday at the Lower Campus before a packed audience in the Greenberg Center. There were 27 students on stage in the cast and an additional 18 in the supporting crew running the lights, sound, tech, make-up and hair, as well as many parents and faculty members helping behind the scenes. Special thanks to parent Kendra Bollenbach for her choreography and Performing Arts Coordinator Andy Street for making the music come alive!

Our productions are run by students who under the guidance of Mr. Street and Assistant Head of Lower Campus Mike Mahon. Mr. Mahon sees the tech and crew jobs as an opportunity to instill a sense of responsibility and build passion, grit, and determination by exposing our students to real-world challenges.

Photo by Misty Hall

There is a festive and generous spirit at OVS as the holidays approach! It is evident in the garland and red poinsettias provided by our parents to decorate Lower Campus, and it is evident in the service work embraced by our Upper Campus students and faculty in donating groceries and gift cards for those less fortunate.

This spirit continues as we prepare for our traditional Campus Lighting on Thursday, December 15, at 6:30 p.m. on the Hermes Quad. Campus Lighting features performances by students in grades PK-8. We look forward to seeing you there!

The OVS Cross Country teams won the Omega League Championships, marking the first time the boys and girls teams have won league at the same time. The Spuds advanced to CIF Prelims on November 11 but did not earn a spot at CIF Finals.

Congrats to runners Logan Wallace (L19), Eli Roston (L20), Eugene Fisher (L19), Shuhei Kotani and Emanuel Zagata-Jacobsen who earned medals as top 10 finishers at the League Championships, and congrats to Prudence Curry-Schafer (L21), Karin Hahn (L20), Elizabeth Ramsay, India Getty-Pruss (L19) and Zimo Zeng for earning medals as top finishers for the girls at the League meet. Read More in a sports story by Lela Rogers (L20) on On The Hill.

By Brody Moller

The 2021-2022 school year brought many changes to the Upper Campus, including a move for all OVS athletic teams from the Condor League to the much larger Omega League. The move has been very good to the Spuds. In their first full year in Omega, the Spuds won league titles in four sports: boys cross country, boys soccer, baseball, and golf. Three of those teams — cross country, soccer and baseball — went on to complete in CIF playoffs.

OVS sports teams also earned CIF playoff appearances in girls and boys volleyball, boys basketball, and girls individual cross country. Read more about the 2021-22 sports season.

By Zimo Zeng

This week the OVS community will be able to enjoy the first in-person musical staged by the Upper Campus since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when the theater program presents a new musical, Trouble in Oz.

The play is inspired by three stories, Wicked, The Wizard of Oz, and The Wiz. Due to the fact that the Wicked script was unavailable, theater director Carmen Doane-Barkan created a new story that combines elements from all three stories. Her original script follows some of the plot lines from the original stories, but more is revealed. For example, the protagonist in one story became the antagonist in the new musical. 

“In terms of this play, I wanted to bring that element directly into the whole narrative,” said Mrs. Doane-Barkan. “Because it’s often seen that Dorothy is the protagonist, and they’re doing the world a service by helping to destroy this wicked witch. But the story is much more complex than that.”

The theater program this year is led by Mrs. Doane-Barkan, who has acted in several large shows in Hollywood and other parts of Los Angeles throughout her adult life, and biology teacher Lisa Boyd, who has been a voice coach at OVS since 1986 and passionate choir singer since she was in high school. The program is being run differently this year with the new H block elective class built into the daily schedule. Previously the after-school elective period was used for the musical, but with the new allotted academic time, the program has been able to give high school credit as a Theater 2 semester program. 

A variety of music styles will be brought to the audience, including classic Tin Pan Alley songs from the original The Wizard of Oz, Broadway pop music from Wicked, and then R&B and soul rhythms from The Wiz.

Performances will be held at 7 p.m. on April 28 and 29 in the Greenberg Center at the Lower Campus.