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Students Skipping Class

by Rena Minegishi, Staff ReporterIt always seems like there are countless reasons to skip

a class: it’s Monday morning, you haven’t had enough sleep (again), you haven’t finished your homework and you are less-than-motivated to attend your less-than-exciting class. With many stressful courses, students may be tempted to take shortcuts, especially when the option of cutting classes appears more lucrative than following the rules.

A survey investigating the frequency and reasons for skipping classes shows that lack of enjoyment in class is a major contributor to students skipping class. Of the 110 students surveyed, 28 students admitted to having skipped at least one class before; of the 28, 13 students have skipped three or more times. “I see a lot of sleep-deprived, exhaust-ed students as work amount increases,” notes Liza Borgon-jon (12). “I’m not surprised that they wouldn’t bother to attend classes they dislike.”

Another common factor is the guilt of incomplete homework: “I’ve skipped one class because I couldn’t fin-ish my work on time,” comments Dhruv Srivastava (11). Students simply do not want to face the awkwardness of having to explain to their teacher why they haven’t done their work.

Substitute teachers can also be a reason. “Students feel that they have less chance of being caught because the teach-er doesn’t know all the students,” notes Jade Chen (11), “and it’s likely that the class won’t be as productive because it’s not the actual teacher for the curriculum.” Students may judge a substituted teacher to be less capable of delivering a useful class and therefore decide to cut the class.

Some students disapprove of this behaviour. “It’s a waste of tuition,” notes Nicole Zhu (10). Curiously, such opinions are rare— although three quarters of surveyed students never had skipped a class before, most students felt that how others spend time is their own business.

In fact, only two students who admitted to skipping class said that they felt guilty. “The most I would think is ‘I might have missed some important materials,’ and I would catch up,” says Isabel Cha (12).

When approached with the statistics noting the number of students skipping class, Assistant Principal Secretary Yan Huang expresses her surprise. “I thought there would be fewer students who skip class,” she asserts. “Students should be in classes unless they have an excusable reason.”

High School Assistant Principal Ms. Wicks, who talks to every student who appears to have skipped class to de-cide whether she or he should have a detention, thinks the behaviour is because “individual students occasionally tend to make a pragmatic decision to prioritize assignments over classes.” She believes that unexcused absences caused by “trivial reasons are rare – and usually to do with procras-tination.” Although she can understand and emphasize with the students, she admits: “I still need to be fair in my judg-ment.”

No matter which excuse students come up with, Ms. Huang sighed the truth that is often ignored: “It is bad to break the rules.”

November 2009: Volume 6, Issue 2

“It’s bad to break the rules...”

PAGE 2PAGE 2

Staff ListEditors-in-Chief

Karen ChenMelissa Powers

Managing EditorAlice Li

Section EditorsStephanie Liew

Wendy LiuGabriel Mekbib

Iris RheeEric Wang

Staff ReportersFrancesca BottorffAlexander Chen

Elise JiangJason Lee

Rena MinegishiAmelia ParkJonathan TaiWatson Yim

Stephanie ZhouEdward Zhu

Cover Art Courtesy ofhttp://www.smartphotoshop.com

PhotographerJenny Kim

Layout ArtistsIsabel Chen

Kevin Su

CartoonistMelissa Powers

AdvisorsCinder MerrittHelen Pritchard

Mentoring Goes Through a Metamorphosis by Alexander Chen, Staff Reporter

With the beginning of a new year, ISB has decided to throw some spice in our lives. Instead of mentoring in healthy doses once every Wednesday, the situation has flipped: mentoring every day except for Wednesday.

The reason be-hind the schedule shift, as Vice Prin-cipal Ms. Wicks explains, is that the former Mentor-ing “did not meet the need of meet-ing an adult for supporting in an emotional sense. The new Mentor-ing gives students another avenue for questions and concerns.” The reworked schedule tries to accommo-date for its precedent’s disadvantages.

The student body has expressed a mix of opinions about this new Mentor-ing. Some students are unsure of just how useful quasi-daily mentoring is. Cat Liang (11) offers her point of view: “Mentoring is a good place to do nothing.”

English Teacher Mr. Roberts also ex-presses concern, saying that he “preferred the previous mentoring. With only ten

minutes, there’s not enough time to in-teract with the kids, or accomplish any-thing.”

A major benefit of the almost-daily Mentoring is the sharing of the daily announcements. Students, and even

teachers, have an increased oppor-tunity to under-stand what is going on in school and are alerted of new events.

Not all stu-dents believe the change is for the worse, Kate Kim (12) says, “I like the change, every-thing just takes a while to get used to.” Amy Zhao (12) proposes an alter-

nate take on Mentoring, “It should be in the morning instead. Others, like Kevin Li (11), are more pes-simistic: “Mentoring is a lost cause. There is no way to improve it.”

New changes always bring new con-sequences, and the schedule is far from perfect. Ms Wicks acknowledges, “All in all, Mentoring is probably not at the end-point.”

Photo Source www.aceshowbiz.com

“So, Harry, about those college apps...”

Less Well–Known Student CharitiesHabitat for Humanity, Roots &

Shoots, and Nightingale Charity Club. The catchy ads of these charity organi-zations frequently conceal the bulletin boards scattered all around school.

There are, however, a few organiza-tions about which the student body needs to be aware. Though less well–known, the following groups might provide the tight-knit feel that is just what a spirited activist is looking for.

E m p o w e r -ment Through Self-Esteem Edu-cation (ESEE) was founded by sev-eral grad students and a few seniors, one of whom is Kevin Wang (12). ESEE’s main goal is to “improve the self-esteem” of local Chinese students through various activities and positive encouragement. With a core curriculum aimed at developing confi-dence “not only in their everyday lives, but also in their English skills,” ESEE aims to help the students be more successful in the future.

What distinguishes ESEE from other organizations is its student-mentor inti-macy. This group solely focuses on teach-ing English to students from Kong Gang Elementary School. “It’s satisfying,” Wang says, “when you can see the growth that occurs over the course of a year with kids that you’ve been helping along the way.”

Alternately, Helping Hands, founded

by Francesca Bottorff, Staff Reporter

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by Cece Wang (12), is a great choice for anyone looking to embrace his/her artsy side. Raising money through selling artful baked goods, fridge magnets and collages, members buy art supplies to work with kids at local organizations Sun Village and Bethel Home. Denyse Seah (12) says the fundraising is “not just for financial aid, but also for widening the children’s op-portunities to experience different artis-

tic endeavors.” Art, she says, creates opportu-nities for these chil-dren, something for “everyone and not just the privileged.”

In contrast, Global Issues Group (GIG), created by Grade 8 teacher Mr. Sheri-dan, gives students the opportunity to “expand their knowl-edge learned from core classes and ap-ply critical thinking to

solve the problem by taking action.” Moly Fang (12), a found-ing member, says that everything within a project, from start to finish, is planned by the students, which gives them free-dom and “[inspires] creativity in the new generation.” GIG feeds off creative minds, and students dare to pursue their inter-ests while gaining leadership skills. Fang claims that by participating in the orga-nization, “students can achieve personal growth, and to learn the importance of being a global citizen and making the world a better place.”

Photo Courtesy of Moly Fang’s Facebook Profile

GIG Members with Ryan Hreljac, Founder of Ryan’s Well

P A G E 3

Arts & Sports

Students Overlook Music Electives

by Melissa Powers, Editor

ISB offers a scale of music electives for students who want to improve their musicianship and perform with their peers. While the less written-work based nature of the courses may lead some to doubt the academic intensity of these classes, they are by no means an easy boost to their GPAs.

Most of the answers to this ques-tion are surprisingly positive. There seems to be a commonly acknowl-edged advantage of said music elec-tives: the emphasis on teamwork. “You focus on both individual and group work while you’re doing something you enjoy,” said Joanna Liu (10), who has been participating in choir for several years. Niu Niu Zhu (12) further confirms, “There’s really a strong sense of community among the music classes.” But de-spite the fact that students spend much of their time working with their peers, music electives are definitely not relaxing study halls.

While those who do not take a music elective may believe it to be a ninety min-ute long respite “where you don’t do any-thing and you’re offered an A+,” as one

student (9) suggested, Ms. Bulteel, a mu-sic teacher, stresses that music electives are “curricular, graded classes that are just as rigorous as other classes.”

For people who have out-of-school music activities through participation in test levels or competitions, music elec-tives are crucial. It should come as no

surprise how intense private music activities are for serious musicians. There are students who practice more than three hours a day, espe-cially the ones considering IB Mu-sic or a future involving music.

While such extreme music studies at home may sometimes be tiresome or even depressing, the music electives at school provide a warm atmosphere where musicians can communicate through the lan-guage of music. The opportunity to enjoy music in such an environment helps alleviate the tension for many young musicians. Music teacher Ms. Pomeroy agrees, asserting that “Keyboarding class certainly gives opportunity for students to build

their skills and confidence.”Although some may hold differing

opinions on these courses, these elec-tives are as academic as any other class. In the end, it’s a matter of how seriously the student takes the class, regardless of what others say.

Photo Courtesy of Jenny Kim

Magic Casts Its Spell on Beijing

by Elise Jiang, Staff Reporter

If one were looking carefully enough this past July, s/he would have been able to spot about 2,500 magicians rubbing shoulders on the streets of Beijing. No, Hogwarts wasn’t holding field trips - it was just another Olympic event grac-ing the city. While the Olympic Games spurred economic development and left us with memorable architecture, 2009’s Magic Olympics has incited a rapidly growing interest in the art of illusions.

Every three years, the International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM) holds the world’s premier magic com-petition, “The World Championships of Magic,” fondly referred to as “The Olym-pics of Magic.” Thousands of magicians across the globe congregate to compete against and learn from fellow practitio-ners. Still, FISM’s choice of China for this year’s Magic Olympics was unexpected to some Beijing residents. As a surprised Jef-frey Sha (9) points out, “Magic isn’t really such a big thing here.”

However, the market for magic in Beijing has been generating buzz since this past February, when Taiwanese magi-cian Liu Qian appeared on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. There, he wowed audiences with a display of “close-up” magic, a dif-ficult style of magic performed no more than ten feet away from an audience. In combination with the Magic Olympics some months later, apathy towards the art has since turned into fascination.

For example, the Beijing Qitian Magic Training Center has recorded “the highest enroll-ment in its history with more than 40 students…every day.”1 Over the summer, magician Jor-dan Wright held popular classes for local Chinese children. Col-lege students fascinated with learning magic have established the “National College Magic As-sociation.”2 Stores selling magic-related commodities have be-come increasingly popular, with sales two to three times greater than the previous year.3

One enterprise in particular is tak-ing notable advantage of magic’s new-found popularity - the Goose & Duck’s bar/restaurant. Alongside local acts, the G&D invites foreign magicians to per-form on a daily basis. These shows have attracted crowds of all nationalities and age groups.

“[In regards to the trend] I feel that China is developing a middle class that has more time for recreational abilities such as magic,” explains Greg Irwin, co-founder of the G&D’s magic shows. “[The Magic Olympics has] helped spread magic on TV and print. It [has] also helped educate the next generation of Chinese magicians.”

Having been greeted with media at-tention and support and with several local TV shows and channels putting on their

own magic competitions, it would seem that this year’s Magic Olympics were a great success. In light of the competi-tion, Beijing is finally able to emerge as a genuine playing field for both foreign and local magicians. As Irwin points out, “Many magicians tell me that Asians have great hands for doing card manipulation.” Luckily for us, it seems like China’s magi-cians are more than ready to step up to the challenge.

1http://en.ce.cn/entertainment/sto-ries/200902/17/t20090217_18230070.shtml

2http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/BeijingInfo/NewsUpdate/OlympicNews/t1069924.htm

3http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/se/txt/2009-08/14/content_212062_2.htm

Image Flickr.com User “LaRosaK”

SooJin Kim (12) and Judy Jo (11) have no reason to feel downbeat.

Magic - no ‘card’inal sin in China!

Sports

PAGE 4

Cross-Country Running Club Takes Offby Stephanie Zhou,Staff Reporter

For most, the term “cross coun-try running” immediately conjures up thoughts of long, grueling training ses-sions reserved exclusively for the running elite. This is not necessarily the case with the newly re-formed, reorganized cross country club at ISB, which focuses on providing a better running environment for those interested. “One of the messages we want to send out is that we’re not just running to compete,” stresses club coach, Joanne Binns.

Still, cross country comes with a

APAC Dance: One Step at a Time

by Edward Zhu,Staff Reporter

Rhythmic music, graceful choreog-raphy, flaming passion and fluid move-ments. What do these seemingly random descriptions have in common? Take the time to drop by the Black Box after-school, and you will find the ISB Dance Team, where each member shares a strong zeal for the team.

This year is the beginning of a new chapter for the dance team. Not only will they have a full time dance coordi-nator, but the team will also attend their first ever APAC Dance Festival in Manila.

The new coach, Mr. Kim Teinchai, has motivated and captivated the dance team. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance in London, Mr. Kim’s profes-sional career started in Mexico with a dance troupe known as “Las Torres Ge-melas.” Before coming to Beijing in 2003 and starting the “DanZ Center” dance school (where over 90% of the students are from ISB), Mr. Kim has traveled and performed extensively around the world.

Mr. Kim was invited by the P.A. office to help teach dance. Captain of the dance team, Catherine Simard-Morissette (11), tells us that, “Mr. Kim has a lot of expe-rience and will really help improve our technique.” Jerome Ching (12) agrees: “The coach is very supportive and friend-ly. He encourages me to try harder, which is good.”

Expectation for APAC is high amongst the dancers, as it is the first dance festival

“We are like a family...”

in the history of APAC. Simard-Mor-issette hopes “to interact with various people and learn new techniques and strategies.” Catherine Liang (11) added that “we’re going to do various genres of dance: lyrical, jazz, hip hop.” Ching says, “My expectations about APAC are un-clear, but I’m sure it’ll be wicked.” Mr. Kim has great expectations for about APAC, where he wishes to “show APAC some of ISB’s most talented dancers.” In addition, he adds that ISB is expecting to host the APAC dance festival next year, which he believes will encourage people to dance.

Dance overall, though, isn’t as popu-lar as the members would like it to be. Whether it be due to its novelty or be-cause it offers less opportunities to watch, the team remains positive for the future. Ching tells us that, “dance is ex-citing, although I’m not very good. I try hard. There are people from every grade level.” This attitude shows the team’s slow but steady emergence into the ISB com-munity. Liang adds, “The feeling of being in a team is great; we are like a family.”

Photo Courtesy of Jenny Kim

ISB Dance Team gets its groove on.

whole assortment of preconceptions. When asked if she’ll consider joining the club this year, Von Lyn Lee (11) replied with an emphatic “No! No! No!” The rea-son? “Maybe because I’m the least athletic person in the entire universe.”

However, one thing the coaches seem to want to emphasize in particular is that the club caters to runners of all levels, and that athleticism isn’t always a factor in determining success. In fact, Binns got in-volved in her high school’s cross country team because “it was a way to get around being uncoordinated.” In this way, cross country is fitting for those who aren’t necessarily good at team sports and are seeking another means of exercise – or in some cases, desperately looking to log CAS hours.

The club’s current members each have their own reasons for joining. “I joined for fun, and I thought it’d be a good way to improve my fitness,” says Jimmy Pang (12). Tim Kee (11) wishes to experience “the joy of running in a pack, so we can all push each other to improve.” Charles Zhang (10) wanted to “get in shape for season three sports,” and Stephanie Low (11), plans to participate simply because she “didn’t have any other sports to join

this season.” Club coach Edward Hillmann says, “We have many goals depending on the student’s particular needs.”

Either way, one of cross country’s popular myths can now be dismissed: unlike many of the other sports at ISB, it does not require an excessive amount of athletic ability and remains open for everyone to join. “The good thing about cross country,” continues Binns, “is that you don’t have to have the natural talent. As long as you log the distance, you have the potential to do well.”

Photos Courtesy of Jenny Kim

“...you don’t have to have the natural talent”

Running for fun, fitness and stress-relief.

P A G E 5

Standing Columns

by Jason Lee, Staff Reporter

For those who have dreamt of a Harry Potter-esque age of ‘alive’ art where paintings could move and talk, the recent opening of The Alive Gallery next to TianAnMen offers a fresh, mug-gle version for Beijingers to enjoy. This gallery signals a significant step from the age of classic arts into the age of digital art.

After its success in Seoul, this gallery combines modern technol-ogy to transform classics into speak-ing, moving figures that talk amongst themselves and explain who they are. Traditional canvases are replaced by electronic screens to offer a dynamic, new way to appreciate art.

This novel approach can easily ed-ucate the public, many of whom may not be very familiar with the artist’s life story or how the painting came to be. Better yet, this information can be relayed without taking away any of the interest. My first impression of the Alive Gallery was of the glistening eyes of children in front of the animated Mona Lisa. Entralled with the artworks displayed, one of the Chinese students who visited the gallery to learn about western arts exclaimed, “Wo zai xiang lai!” (I want to come here again!)”. This image is definitely different from my memories of visiting typical art muse-ums as a child, where I often felt un-interested by the analysis next to the dead-still paintings and asked my par-ents if we could leave.

Because the moving characters play out a skit of what the painting they live in is all about, the viewer not only learns about the history and context of the artwork but also finds a new way to look at the art piece.

FACEOFF: Alive Art vs Classic Art

Amidst the papers to write and blink-ing cursors to haunt you, nothing’s better than an 18m x 26m screen with a box of popcorn, a liter of coke and a suitably cushy seat to unwind in your free time. With more movie companies than ever distribut-ing movies in China, we picked our favorite places to catch a movie on the big screen. #5. Joy City Cinemas at Xi Dan

Although potentially problematic for students who live in Shunyi, this the-atre can be easily accessed by subway. With over 10 theatres with full facilities, large bathrooms, and an arcade located a floor below, it’s definitely worth a trip. #4. Wanda at 3rd Ring Road

Situated on the third ring road, this hang-out attracts many movie and game fans. With an arcade next door and Silk Street across the street, Wanda is defi-

by Amelia Park, Staff Reporter

Picasso, Dali, and Van Gogh are only three out of the artists who have impacted and revolutionized the art world. The new Alive Gallery, which takes classic artworks and transforms them into talking figures, is the arche-typal example of an inappropriate at-tempt to revolutionize art that would be better off without it.

The Alive Gallery features master-pieces digitized into far less meaningful pieces of media. If a painting’s goal is to relate the purpose of the artist, then the Alive Gallery fails to achieve this. A one-sided explanation is presented to the viewers through the technologically altered pieces, therefore limiting one’s personal interpretations on the piece. Given the pre-set interpretation and cheesy jokes that these reworked clas-sics now have, the pleasure once found in having a personal response to a paint-ing is lost.

The changes are meant to be edu-cational, and yet one must ask, “What is the point in wasting time going to the Alive Gallery when you can find the same information online?” IB art stu-dent Annie Au (11), affirms, “If I want-ed to look things up I’d go to Google. If I wanted to enjoy artwork I’d go to 798.”

By offering interpretations on clas-sics for which, oftentimes, the artist did not leave a clear interpretation, the “alive” art is subjective and limiting and the meaning of art is defied. There are, of course, advantages to enhancing art through technology, but that should be left to the discretion of the artist. In this case, the beauty of the piece is clouded, leaving it a victim of an unsuitable use of technological advancements.

Top 5: Beijing Cinemasnitely in a good neighbourhood. Howev-er, the bathroom situation may be prob-lematic: during rush hours, a huge line forms outside the womens’ restrooms. On the plus side, tickets are half price for students who present their ID cards. #3. Saga Cinema at Solana

Located in the center of Solana, Saga Cinema is equipped with high-quality sound systems. However, unlike the mall itself, the movie theater cannot boast of its space. What it lacks in size it compensates with food and seating. “The popcorn and seats are like those in the States,” Jesse Starger (10) remarks. #2. Star City at Oriental Plaza

This multiplex screens foreign films and major local releases in the popular Wangfujing, which is famed for its incom-parable buzz of people and cafes. Unfor-

tunately, this very same reason is also a problem during public holidays. The lines can be tough, but if you’re with a friend, one can keep a spot in line while anoth-er crosses a street and buys some chuan’r to make the wait much more enjoyable. #1. Megabox at The Village

Located in the heart of San Li Tun, in the basement of The Village lies a relatively new addition to the theatrical neighbour-hood. With numerous shops and restau-rants in the vicinity, waiting for a movie to start is not a problem. Cleanliness is also not a major issue and comfortable chairs are available in all theaters. “I really like the state of the art sound systems and movie screens. The popcorn is great too!” Ste-phen Wu (9) exclaims. As if we needed any more incentives to get up from our desks and seek entertainment and much comfier chairs!

by Watson Yim & Jonathan Tai, Staff Reporters

Courtesy of Melissa Powers

which s/he is most likely to excel.1 Ad-ditionally, unrestricted editing is exactly what it sounds like. An article will be ed-ited repeatedly by thousands of different minds as opposed to the limited number of editors working on other encyclope-dias.

Nevertheless, we expect that stu-dents know the difference between arti-cles on Wikipedia that they can trust, and those which they should avoid. Articles concerning controversial topics are likely to have bias or falsified information, and it is the duty of the student to be able to distinguish trustworthy from unreliable. Students are familiar with the citations that Wikipedia articles have and should know to check the validity of the infor-mation presented. Sometimes the cita-tions may even lead to further and more in-depth research on the topic chosen. In fact, one of Wikipedia’s strengths lies with its compilation of multiple sources, making it easier for students to access this breadth of knowledge from one website.

The next time teachers assign a re-port don’t hesitate to type www.wikipe-dia.org into the URL. As long as you do your research and find a good balance of reliable sources, there is no reason not to get indulge in your Wiki cravings.

1http://ted.com/2009/07/Photo Source: http://xkcd.com/547

PAGE 6

Opinions

Teachers Too Picky with Wiki

By the time students hit grade nine, typing Wikipedia into the URL bar is the instant reflex to the words “research proj-ect.” Unfortunately, teachers have made this user-written website their ultimate enemy (only in class that is). Habits are hard to kick, and in this case, why should we kick it at all?

Prestigious scientific magazine Nature published a study in Decem-ber 2005 that shows that the freely edited information on Wikipedia was on par with the online content of Encyclopedia Britannica. In terms of errors found, the major scientists asked to blindly review the articles found four serious errors in each encyclopedia, out of a total of 42 reviewed. With statistics like these, we wonder why citing Wikipedia is so much more shameful than citing its counterpart Britannica.

Between the two, Wikipedia is more accessible in terms of lan-guage, offers more breadth of sub-jects covered and is generally more user-friendly. Text-heavy Britannica Online loses our votes because the writing is oftentimes too bland and lacks the simplicity of Wikipedia.

We acknowledge that unre-stricted rights to edit or create articles may cause some reliability issues, but the same reasons make

Wikipedia such a strong resource. Users are usually unpaid to write and therefore write articles about topics they are pas-sionate about. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and speaker on incentives for employees, advocates an approach to work based on what the worker is mo-tivated to do because that is the area in

FOOLS ReviewWell-Imagined Comedy Shares Truths about Education

By Alice Li, Karen Chen & Melissa Powers, Top Three Editors

By Karen Chen, Editor-in-ChiefThis year’s high school play, Neil Si-

mon’s Fools directed by Mr. Tom Rosevear, was, in words the cursed folk of Kulyenchik-ov may have used: rather “yellow, because it doesn’t stick to your fingers.” The plot revolves around a small village in Ukraine which has been cursed by eternal stupidity, breakable only if the new schoolmaster (Ian Evans) succeeds in educating the beautiful Sophia Zubritsky (Catherine Simard-Mor-issette), or alternately, if the latter marries Count Yousekevitch, the scornful man who proposes to her twice a day.

At first, few in the audience seemed amused by the silly ploys being used on stage but soon enough the “foolish,” simple, comedic devices warmed the audience. Once everyone had gotten used to Simon’s use of comedy, the actors had to frequently give pause while waiting for the audience to finish laughing. The use of repetition and grandiose actions were frequently fun-nier than the jokes themselves, a stand-out example being when Dr. Zubritsky (Jason Lee) discovered the jerks and spasms that hitting himself with the medical hammer caused him to do.

They say that there’s always truth in comedy, and in the case of Fools, many of the truths spoken were pertinent. The play’s central theme was education, and characters often questioned its purpose, its use and the traditional methods of teach-ing. “Why must you have an answer? Aren’t questions beautiful enough?” asks Lenya Zubritsky (Michelle Milton), in response to the schoolmaster’s recurring question,

“What is the purpose of man’s existence?” Such points, even rendered in a context of almost ‘absurd’ farce, strike the audience amongst the playful quips and force the audience to think about their education al-most as hard as they are laughing.

Many of the jests that worked best were those to which the ISB audience could relate. For instance, when Sophia’s parents make excuses for her poor performance on the test, (“But she hasn’t taken a test in so long!”) more than a few parents recognized the lines and chuckled. The fishmonger (who actually had a basket full of flowers) was a close caricature of street vendors, quickly changing the use of her “fish” to suit the occasion (the flowers became umbrel-las when it rained, fish during lunchtime).

Mr. Rosevear’s effec-tive use of audience interac-tion and the Brechtian con-cept of “breaking down the fourth wall” – theatre speak for when the actors on stage acknowledge the audience and move the audience from a passive role to a more ac-tive one – by having the ac-tors constantly voice their thoughts to the spectators and make witty asides was particularly interesting and created a more intimate re-lationship between the audi-ence and actors.

A particularly strik-ing moment was when antagonist Count

Yousekevitch (Chase Toronto) walked on stage for a monologue and was booed by the audience. Booing doesn’t usually signal a success in the theatre, but in this case, the audience became involved in the play and gained a new level of interactive entertain-ment. When he subsequently asked, “You all hate me, don’t you?” the audience re-sponded a resounding “Yes!” (he followed with a snarky, “I hate you all too.”) adding yet another layer of humour to the play.

Overall, Fools was a success, creatively marrying important thoughts on education with laughter-inducing punch lines. It was a play in good humour that left the audi-ence in an equally good one.

Photo Courtesy of Réjean Côté

Cat Li (11), Partel Unga (9), Daphne Wu (11), Alice Ren (11), Ian Evans (11) use their new “umbrellas”.