VPA November Newsletter

The Morris School District is proud to provide ample opportunities in the Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Our teachers are extremely dedicated and skilled in promoting and developing creativity, aptitude, and enthusiasm within their respective fields. Our students excel in the art studio, on stage, and in the graphic arts.

If you would like to highlight an accomplishment of a district student or teacher, please e-mail Elaine Broe, K-12 Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator, at elaine.broe@msdk12.net.

The Normandy Park School 5th Grade Band worked on learning one of their favorite October songs from music class, “Pumpkin Bones!” Click on the picture below to hear their version of “Pumpkin Bones!”

The marching band season culminated in a State Championship performance at TCNJ where the band earned 7th place. It has been an incredible year celebrating 100 years of the Marching Colonials. Connecting with alumni, a higher level of visuals, and entertaining show music were all wonderful highlights of the season.

The marching band will be performing alongside Rutgers University in the military appreciation game on November 8th and will be performing pregame for the New Jersey Devils on December 1st.

CLICK HERE to view the State Championship Performance at TCNJ

The Morris Educational Foundation generously purchased new baritones for the MHS Marching Colonials.

"Thrilled to replace the 20-year-old Baritones with these high-quality Yamaha Silver Baritones. Students will continue marching to the top for years to come!" - MEF

The award-winning Morristown High School Theatre Department performed this year’s fall drama production, Little Women, from November 21 to 23.

MHS Theatre’s student production of this timeless classic is an original adaptation of the novel by MHS’s own award-nominated director George LaVigne, with input from the students, and is sure to delight theatergoers of all kinds.

A coming-of-age story set in a time of great upheaval and division, Little Women is, in LaVigne’s words, “an endearing story of family, the bond of sisters, and their struggle in trying times, through poverty and loss.”

The play’s strong female characters are what attracted LaVigne to Little Women. Jo, the second-oldest March daughter, is the exemplar. Creative, ambitious, free-spirited, and proudly feminist at a time when that term was new, Jo has no patience for society’s expectations or limits on what girls and women can or can’t do, nor does she care to be restricted by her gender, proudly declaring herself “the man of the house” while her father is at war.

“This story is so empowering for women,” says Brooks Seibold, who will play Jo in the MHS production. “It’s beautiful to see Jo be her own person. At a time when strong women are supposed to be ‘cool girlboss untouchable,’ it’s refreshing to see Jo, a very unconventional activist, be vulnerable and act like a real girl, even though she’s a feminist and powerful. This story is so ahead of the times in that sense.” A treat for the holiday season, Little Women spans several Christmases in the lives of the March sisters and their mother, Marmee, who instills a spirit of independence, charity, forgiveness, and compassion in her daughters.

A landmark in American literature, Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel has been adapted countless times, and for good reason. Those adaptations include at least seven feature films, four television mini-series, two operas, two musicals, and even multiple anime interpretations. MHS’s production reaches back past all of those descendants to the original novel and Alcott’s words to get to the heart of what has made Little Women endure for more than a century and a half. As Jo, the book’s stand-in for Alcott herself, asks her mother, “What can there be in a simple little story like that to make people praise it so?”

“There’s truth in it,” her mother responds. It also has “humor and pathos,” per Marmee, and MHS’s production is sure to be a heartwarming reminder of “how much genuine happiness can be had in a plain little house.”

The student cast of MHS’s Little Women included:

Meg March • Helene Gringeri

Jo March • Brooks Seibold

Beth March • Olivia Montague

Younger Amy March • Layna Arvanites

Older Amy March • Davnette McNamara

Margaret “Marmee” March • Abby Higgins

Hannah • Amelia Corcoran

Theodore “Laurie” Laurence • Elliot Eck

John Brooke • Ryan Snyder

Mr. Laurence • Joshua Crean

Mr. March • Chris Miners

Aunt March • Tara Gumpper

Professor Friedrich Bhaer • Jackson Miller

Sallie Gardner • Rose Carcich

Ned Moffat • Ethan Danysh

Annie Moffat • Jade Romano

Mr. Dashwood • Liam Houston

Mrs. Escobedo’s 8th grade ceramic students created decorative single pinch pot ghosts with festive accessories.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Kindergarten 9:30

1st Grade 10:20

2nd Grade 1:30

Multipurpose Room

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

5th Grade 10:00

3rd Grade 1:00

4th Grade 2:00

MHS Concert Schedule: All Performances at 7:00 PM

Band Concert - December 4, 2025

Orchestra Concert - December 11, 2025

Choir Concert - December 18, 2025

The Morris Educational Foundation (MEF) works year-long in collaboration with the Morris School District community to bring resources to all students and all schools. Together, we help everyone Imagine the Possibilities - and make it a reality.

This includes funding for annual Cultural Arts programming, classroom grants as well as literacy programs and resources to name a few. We rely on our donors to make this all possible and during this season of giving, we ask for you to consider a gift at bit.ly/MEFgift to help us continue our impact for the ‘23-24 school year.

Click here to learn more about the MEF's impact. The Morris School District is an amazing place, and the MEF is proud to be its partner for over 30 years. We hope you will join us this school year to Imagine the Possibilities!

The Morris Museum creates opportunities for lifelong learning, discovery, and creativity, driven by the contemporary interpretation of its Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata as well as its general collections.

To learn more about the Morris Museum and what it offers, visit their website by clicking here.