Editor’s note: The following is an installment of an ongoing historical series about the Sachem Central School District. I have the great pleasure of exploring Sachem’s historic archives and bringing to light stories that have been out of sight for decades.
In March 1967, performers from Lincoln Center in New York City graced the stage at Sachem Jr.-Sr. High School.
“To give Sachem High School students an idea of the tremendous scope of the performing arts and to whet their appetites for the fare served by Lincoln Center, performers have left their exquisite theaters at 55th Street, Manhattan, and traveled to Lake Ronkonkoma to entertain on the stage of our own high school,” read a story about the event in “The Sachem News,” a now defunct publication formerly published by Sachem’s Board of Education.
The setting admittedly is not as glorious, but the performances are as brilliant and no first night audience could greet these productions with more enthusiasm and appreciation than our local high school students. For many of them it is their first acquaintance with ballet or opera or live drama, and their responses have been extremely favorable.
The Lincoln Center Student Program is co-sponsored by The New York State Education Department as a curriculum-related activity. The availability of such a program enables a school’s faculty and administration to build a study of the performing arts around live performances of high quality. For instance, the students in Sachem’s new dramatics course assist with costumes, settings, lights and behind the scenes responsibilities for the programs. The school’s English department prepared students for the opera performance and provided a follow-up experience of discussion and review.
The Lincoln Center Student Program gives a third dimension to our Cultural Coherence Course, which aims to broaden the cultural horizons of our youngsters; and since the program is affiliated with this course, we have been able to use Federal Funds to underwrite the cost of bringing these artists to our school.
Sachem’s first program that year was a lecture-demonstration arranged by the New York City Ballet. The opera “Don Pasquale” by Donizetti was performed on March 10, 1967 at Sachem with the seniors and juniors attending, and that year Sachem also played host to a drama program by the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center and a solo recital and chamber music concert by artists from the Julliard School.
It is hoped that exposure to performances of high artistic quality will guide our young people in forming discriminating tastes and that ultimately they will absorb the arts info the fabric of their lives. If past success is any measure for future endeavors, both from the student responses and faculty enthusiasm the program will continue to offer rich rewards indeed to the young people who attend our high school.
The exposure certainly paid off and dozens, if not hundreds, of former Sachem students have guided their lives by the drama, entertainment and arts scene. Sachem continues to have a strong drama program today.
-Words by Chris R .Vaccaro