Perpich Arts High School Theater Department Presents “Senior Capstone 2025”

May 19, 2025

The Perpich Arts High School Theater Department presented “Senior Capstone 2025” on Thursday, May 15th and Friday, May 16th. “Senior Capstone 2025” was made up of four solo performances and two short plays.

• Charli Pedersen (Musical Theater 2025) – an epistolary performance based on their great grandfather’s letters
• Greta “Gerwig” Kunene (Musical Theater 2025) – a solo performance in the thematic styling of Roger Guenveur Smith
• Ian Garrido-Lavender (Musical Theater 2025) – a movement/clowning/commedia piece
• Miryam Donsker (Theater 2025) – a “spoof” written with a song and characters from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”
• Warren Mulholland Coler (Theater 2025) (Directing) & Olivia Solinger (Theater 2025) (Acting) – along with four Juniors produced “Duet for Dog and Bear” by playwright Sybil Rosen
• Tory Peterson, Theater Instructor, along with three Juniors, produced an immersive scene from Tina Howe’s play “Museum” in the Perpich Arts High School Upper Gallery

Greta “Gerwig” Kunene rehearses the guitar for her Senior Capstone

Greta Kunene was at NIETOC, a prestigious speech and debate competition near Kansas City, Missouri, during the Capstone performances. Because of this, she chose to present her Capstone as a recording that could be played during the performance. “Having to record my Senior Capstone taught me a lot of new things,” said Kunene. “When you record a piece of theater, it becomes a new type of media entirely and I had to learn how to effectively showcase the work I had done within this new form of media. I am very proud of how far I’ve come and that I was able to push myself and do things that scare me for my final performance at Perpich.”

Charli Pedersen reads letters from her great grandpa to her great grandma for her Senior Capstone

Charli Pedersen’s performance was based on the love story between her great grandma and great grandpa during World War II. “The entire story is about letters that he had sent to my great grandma and how the love grew over just one year,” said Pedersen. “My great grandma sadly passed away a week before joining Perpich my junior year and this piece is to honor her.”

Ian Garrido-Lavender infused clowning movements into his Capstone. “It’s about art and the artist and the audience,” said Garrido-Lavender. “Here at Perpich, I was really able to learn how to connect with my audience. How to see them as much as they’re seeing me. How to tell a story through movement, how to characterize different movements. I came to Perpich when I was doing very poorly in school and I’ve grown so much here since.”

Ian Garrido-Lavender does a series of physical warm ups before his Senior Capstone which incorporates clowning movements

Senior Capstone is a quarter long, process-driven project required for graduation by the Perpich Theater Program. Seniors execute and thoroughly document a sustained project of their own design over the course of 4th quarter. Projects may be connected to creative collaborative production and may take the form of, but are not limited to: a research paper, creation of an original work – play, movement, cabaret, costume, set design, voice over, sound score, etc. This serves as the “capstone” Perpich experience, bringing together two years of coursework and productions in theater arts and musical theater, and preparing students for life and work after departing Perpich Arts High School. Instructors Tory Peterson and Kevin Hohlstein serve as resources in the planning stages, advise on the progress of the project, and evaluate its effectiveness and quality.

Each Senior was allotted 10 minutes to use however they choose to develop their Capstone Project. When working with other Seniors, their time could be pooled together to showcase work. Juniors were cast as needed in certain Capstones. Each Senior was given a Community Mentor, a professional in the field that supports Senior Capstone work, from theater directors, performers, costume design, voice talent, and animators.

Olivia Solinger (center) performs in “Duet for Dog and Bear”

Anthony Sisler-Neuman (Theater 2000) was the professional theater mentor for all 2025 Theater Seniors. Anthony is cofounder for Graceful Monsters Educational Theatre Collective, a process-driven educational theatre in Minneapolis, MN that fosters a safe space for young artists to create, learn, and be empowered to explore their own stories. He grew up as a theater kid in the Twin Cities, working at most of the local youth companies. He went on to study theater at Perpich Arts High School where he learned the love for verbatim theater and shifted gears to playwriting at Columbia College Chicago. Anthony has been directing and educating youth since 2012, while continuing to work as a theater professional. His lifelong dream of having an educational theatre collective has finally come true, alongside his wife, which is truly the only way it could have happened. He is an avid believer that theater changes lives and continues to be inspired by the young artists he works with every day.

Congratulations to all those involved in the show!