TA News

Guest post from Waits River Valley School teacher Thomas Chapin ’04

On Thursday, May 28 at 6 p.m., Waits River Valley School is bringing its production of The Wizard Of Oz to Thetford Academy. Students in grades 3-8 have been working hard for the past few months and are excited to perform at the Martha Jane Rich Theater. 

Musicals at Waits River Valley School have become a tradition in recent years. Their first show was Mary Poppins in 2023, which featured Aiden Otterman (TA ’27) as Mr. Banks. What began as a middle school class has now extended to the lower grades, with roughly 35 students involved in the current production. 

Like Thetford Academy often does, WRVS has a split cast for many of the lead roles. On Thursday night, most of the lead roles will be played by middle school students. The school’s 3rd through 5th grade lead actors got a chance to perform during the school day today for TA’s musical theater class, as well as about 100 students from Thetford Elementary School. 

This is WRVS’ third show at TA, having previously performed Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory and Frozen, Jr. Being able to perform in a state-of-the-art theater is an incredible opportunity for these young actors. The partnership between schools is a valuable one because many WRVS students go on to attend TA, and many become part of Thetford Academy’s drama program. 

WRVS will have three evening performances of The Wizard of Oz: May 28 at TA, May 29 at Oxbow, and May 30 at WRVS. All shows are at 6 p.m. Thetford Academy freshman and WRVS graduate Mercedes Schwarz will be the lighting engineer for the TA performance.