Junior, Ella Burnham, shares her behind-the-scenes look into Hartfield’s Theater Production!
Ella Burnham is certainly a standout student! We love it when students are willing to share and express their talents with their fellow students, faculty, and parents. This year, Ella Burnham is sharing her talents as the writer of this year’s fall play, Rewritten: An Insomniac’s Guide to Daydreaming. The play follows an insomniac and her journey to sleep. This year will include Ella’s second year of involvement with Hartfield’s performing arts program - being a part of Rewritten and the musical last year - and is thrilled for the opportunity as the playwright.
When asked what she was most looking forward to in this opportunity, she responded “I am most looking forward to seeing it come alive, I had trouble giving this play away in the beginning but now I’m excited to see it come to life.”
The only requirement Ms. Hatcliff, the Director of Fine Arts, gives the students when deciding what to rewrite is that it must be a Shakespeare play. The imagination is left up to the students to become creative in the way they present his story. This year, ‘An Insomniac’s Guide to Daydreaming’ is taken from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “When asked to write a comedy, I knew I wanted to do “Midsummer Night's Dream”. All of the “dream scenes” are my favorite because I got to write like Shakespeare and be super dramatic in dialogue.”, shared Ella.
Ella and her classmates, along with Ms. Hatcliff, have worked diligently to have their performance ready for Thursday. With the anticipation of the night slowly making its arrival, each student is eager to set the stage and perform the play that is always loved by so many. Ella expressed what she is most looking forward to seeing performed after a long time of preparing - “This play has so many innuendos and hidden meanings, I am so excited to see what’s been playing in my head for 6 months!”
Being a student writer for an entire fall play requires a lot of hard work. When asked why she wanted to take on such a large role she answered, “I have always enjoyed writing but last year I had an idea for rewritten and Hattie loved it, funny enough my original pitch isn’t the one I wrote this year!”
We are tremendously proud of what Ella has and will accomplish! Rewritten is more than just a great performance, our students are able to come together creatively and work on something they are passionate about. We are all looking forward to seeing the ways each individual involved will shine!
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Hartfield Academy
Hartfield Academy is fully accredited by both the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the MidSouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS), the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and the Southern Association of independent Schools (SAIS).