The bustling sights and sounds of New York City greeted several WA Theater Arts (WATA) students early one Saturday afternoon. The 44 actors and crew members — accompanied by 6 adult chaperones — stepped out of the bus, a little wobbly after the several-hour drive. The air bubbled with excitement and anticipation for a fun, theater-filled weekend; one where they would be the audience and not the performers.
The group of 50 departed from WA by bus the morning of Saturday, Oct. 12, and traveled to New York City (NYC) for the biannual WATA New York trip. They stayed in the city for a few days before returning to WA late the evening of Monday, Oct. 14th.
WATA has been traveling to New York for the past 18 years, with the exception of a couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, due to budget cuts, the trip has been changed from occurring every year to being biannual. The trip also used to take place in February, but is now in October. According to Towers, the change in the time of year was entirely based on the weather.
The trip began when the bus left WA at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. A couple of hours later, it stopped—not in New York, but in New Haven, Connecticut for lunch.
“New Haven, Connecticut holds itself as the pizza capital of the [country].” Towers said. “[It definitely has] very good pizza.”
After getting pizza, students reboarded the bus, which continued and reached NYC at around 2 p.m., perfectly on schedule. The group then checked into the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel.
“There were nice beds, nice bathrooms, it’s a nice place,” junior Lacey Fraser said. “There’s a Starbucks in the hotel, which is great.”
They got to spend the next few hours walking around the city and shopping. During this time, students were able to visit Chinatown, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square, among other places.
“We definitely walked a lot on the trip, […] but [it] was really fun because we got to go off in groups [to do our own thing],” freshman Austin Kane said.
Over the course of the trip, WATA members saw three Broadway plays; the first of which being Back to the Future on Saturday. The show was packed with technical aspects that students were considerably impressed by.
“It was incredible,” sophomore Maya Galli said. “They literally made a car fly.”
The next production the following day was a play called Yellow Face, a work that dealt largely with race, especially in the acting industry. Prior to leaving for the trip, some students had the opportunity to read the play in Play Lab, a theater elective at WA. According to Fraser, it was a difficult read, as it was hard to visualize how everything would look on stage. However, students noted that the play was an excellent watch.
“Seeing [the play] really helped me make sense of everything. It was so cool,” Fraser said.
Following the production, the group ate dinner at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where waiters sang to guests as they were served. After dinner, they saw the musical The Outsiders, the book version of which WPS students usually read in eighth grade.
“I have to say, The Outsiders was incredible,” Galli said. “I got chills every song, every time [the actors] opened their mouths. I recommend everybody go see it if they have a chance.”
After each of the plays ended, students got a chance to meet with cast members, some even taking photos together and getting signatures. In particular, freshman Austin Kane was able to meet an actor he admired after watching Back to the Future.
“I really look up to him,” Kane said. “It was so cool to meet him and get a picture with him.”
Kane, as well as several other freshmen who decided to go to New York, were going on an overnight school trip for the first time. The Class of 2027 was the last class to take the Washington D.C. trip that Blanchard and Stony Brook students have taken in eighth grade as the field trip was cancelled last year.
According to Kane, this was not a major cause of apprehension.
“I was definitely a little nervous, getting there and finding out who I was rooming with before [that], but it ended up being great,” Kane said.
Alternatively, Fraser was going on the New York trip for the second time, the first time being in her freshman year. When comparing both trips, Fraser noted that the previous trip was much more fast-paced, leaving students tired every night.
“We took it a little more chill this time,” Fraser said. “[But] It was still intense and super fun.”
The last time WATA went on the trip, they began the journey on Friday instead of Saturday in order to see a WATA graduate perform. However, the trip was readjusted for this year and continued as normal.
For Towers, at the end of the day, the New York trip is mainly about his students having fun with one another and building and maintaining connections.
“We make better theater here if we have stronger relationships,” Towers said. “It’s nice to spend time away together for a concentrated amount of time. There’s this ‘we’re all in the same boat’ mentality for the good things and things that are difficult.”
Students that went on the trip seem to echo this sentiment, with a few stating that being able to spend time with their friends was the highlight of their trip.
“It was a great experience,” Galli said. “I’m very lucky and privileged to be able to have that.”