High school production of West Side Story leads to discussions of race, U.S. politics

Racial tensions between the "the Jets" and "the Sharks" of West Side Story took on new meaning for the student cast from Waterloo Collegiate Institute as they rehearsed for the classic musical during the peak of the U.S. election.

The show has a cast of almost 70 students on stage and 40 in the orchestra pit, which includes a full string section.

The school is a magnet school for both its strings program and ESL program. That means students can attend, no matter where in Waterloo region they live – some come as far away as Guelph.

It was a huge undertaking, director and drama teacher Jocelyn Urquhart said, that took on new meaning as the political climate in the U.S. grew tense and students struggled to reconcile what they were doing on stage with what was happening in the news. 

"The day after the election we had a rehearsal," Urquhart remembers. "It was mostly the [Puerto Rican female cast], who sing the song America. The lyrics that are repeated are 'I like to be in America' over and over again.

"And they came in and they said, 'It feels kind of conflicting to sing that song right now. Because we have this incredibly inclusive, multicultural, diverse cast and school and the person who is at the microphone right now talking about what it feels like to live in America is against that and is preaching messages of hate.'

"And this entire show is about not hate, love. That's what's going to bind us all together," Urquhart said.

The show runs Nov. 24 and 25, at Waterloo Collegiate Institute. You can hear part of the production in the audio below, including insight from student performers Emily Nighman, who plays Maria, and violist Kate Schneider.