QEA winter concert a smash hit
(pictured above: Program players (from left) Ruby Reaves, Kamya Simmons, Christina Baker, MaSasha Staley and Shabria Stewart.)
Judging by the reaction of the packed audience, Quality Education Academy Fine Arts Department’s annual winter concert was a tremendous success.
An overflow crowd of parents, friends and relatives watched the recent event from seats in the school’s new state-of-the-art auditorium.
They were treated to musical performances by the elementary, middle school and high school bands and featured performances by several choral groups. QEA Musical Director Willie Lewis said the concert was the culmination of several months of rigorous practice and hard work by the students; he was extremely proud of their final product.
The audience was also treated to the original theatrical production “This Christmas,” directed by QEA’s new drama instructor Tondnee Jeffries, who earned a BFA in drama and theater from N.C. A&T in 2008. The play incorporated cinematography with an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Jeffries’s play presented an anti-bullying theme, where the ghosts represented the ghosts of bullies past, present and future. The cast and stage managers are in Jeffries’ Drama I and Drama II classes; they also included several volunteers from the high school and middle school.
A visual arts display, under the direction of Art Director Rodney Bennett, was featured as well. It included paintings and drawings by QEA students that illustrated a new campus initiative – the T.R.U.T.H. (The Reality Under the Hate) Movement. The initiative seeks to expose the nature of the racial disparities in the American criminal justice system.
