When Solomon Bergquist ’20, was in second grade, he wrote a play to perform with his friends at part of his birthday celebrate. The performance didn’t come together quite as he had envisioned—which might be expected with a group of energetic six and seven year olds—but it’s an experience he remembers fondly as one of his first forays into the world of theater.
“I think what’s drawn me to theater as a whole—whether it’s in the role of actor, director, or designer—is this act of pretend, this act of socially acceptable lying, of creating another world, of telling a new story,” he says. “It’s a magical experience to create something out of nothing and draw the audience into it.”
Over the years, Solomon has participated in many curricular and extracurricular productions, including staging at student production of Man of La Mancha as his Senior Project. He attended Princeton University to study anthropology with a specific focus on lies, deception, and magic, but continued to stay embedded in the world of theater at the student-run Theatre Intime.
Solomon graduated Princeton this past May and is taking some time to travel and try his hand at different things before going back to academia to pursue his Master’s. “My plan is really just to live and stay as open to as many possibilities and different directions that my life can go in as I can,” he says.
He was honored be asked to direct the After School Musical Club’s production of Peabody: A Musical, written by his father Glen Berger with music by a close family friend, the late songwriter Morgan Taylor.
“I’m really happy that we can bring this show to the valley,” Solomon says. “It was originally written by my dad as just a play, but really, once they decided to turn it into a musical, it was Morgan’s music that brought it alive. Thinking of Morgan and doing this to a certain degree in his memory is never far from my mind.”
The play tells the story of 8th grader Alyssa Peabody whose unconventional Science Fair Project puts her at odds with her family, friends, and school administrators. The cast is made up middle school students with high school student musicians playing in the pit.
“It’s been a fantastic experience working with the students,” Solomon says. “All of them are participating because they want to, which helps so much when it comes to crafting the show. One of the things that I’ve loved the most is the passion the students have, both in terms of acting but also in terms of what the show looks like as a whole.”
We hope you’ll join us for one of the public performances of Peabody: A Musical, which runs November 21, 7pm; November 22, 7pm, and November 23, 2pm & 6pm, in the School Assembly Hall. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 student, $25 family of 4 (2 adults & 2 children), and can be purchased now through the Main Office or at the door.
