Communications Arts Newsletter Blog

By Brittany Leitner

“When trouble troubles you, the only thing to do is dance!” sang the cast of The Boyfriend, and dance we did! This year, the theatre department put on The Boyfriend, a musical spoof of the 1920s composed and written by Sandy Wilson. The Boyfriend is about girls at Madame Dubonnet’s finishing school for “perfect young ladies” who just have “got to have…that perfect thing called the boyfriend!”

We put together the show in about a month. Being newcomers to the theatre program this year, Molly James (who played Polly Browne) and I (Maisie) weren’t sure how the musical would come together in such a short amount of time, but Communications Arts theater veterans Cole Little, Mandy Belscamper, Collin Miller, Sarah Garza, Alma Harline, and Chris Rothbauer made us feel at home on the stage. About 15 members of the cast and crew were Comm Arts students. It was fun to be able to participate in an extracurricular activity at Taft and still have your “commie” friends around you.

Because the theatre department only puts on a musical once a year, we invite talent from all the fine arts departments to participate in the show. Choir student Taylor Vollmer, who played Madame Dubbonet, adapted to the stage after years of choral training, Carlos Landa played percussion in the pit orchestra, and the Highstepper dance team came in for a “synchronized swimming” number in “Sur La Plage.”

In the end, the show was a success and all of the “perfect young ladies” got their boyfriends! Audiences and cast members alike swooned for The Boyfriend!

by Beth Klunder

As the swimming season comes to an end, the Taft team is sure to go out with a splash. Having only nine swimmers yet placing 3^rd in District was a great accomplishment for the girl’s team. Communications Arts students Amanda Espinoza (Senior), Alma Harline (Senior), Michelle Dominguez (Sophomore), Brittany Holm (Sophomore) and Sydney Penalver (Freshman) have also placed among the top 8 swimmers throughout the district, earning them a spot for the Regional swim meet taking place on February 13-14.

Although the competitive season will soon be over, the swimmers will then transition into water polo. Requiring team members to constantly tread water or swim back and forth across the width of the pool, water polo is demanding and requires high endurance. Teams practice in the morning before school as well as after school, working on speed and agility drills.

This year the water polo season has been moved to the Spring, as opposed to its original time in early Fall. Over Spring Break, a clinic will be given at the Northside Natatorium. The first tournament is March 21st.