Thank You...

Abstract

Myles L. senior project.

My senior project chronicles the process my team and I underwent while developing my senior project "Thank You Mrs. Pike" What happens when you quit show choir but you still want an easy A that allows you to fulfill your narcissistic needs? If you're in shape, you take weight training. If you're a responsible young adult you take a finance class. But if you're desperate for attention like me, you bite the bullet and take a theater class.

Thank You, Mrs. Pike, is a solo performance piece based on my experiences at Westfield High School's theater department during the 2016-2017 season. It is scheduled to premiere in the spring of 2022. This show tells the story of how I, Myles Langaigne, ended up as a theater major at SUNY Purchase via racially charged casting and a determined, seemingly senile, yet astoundingly cunning theatre teacher by name of Mrs. Pike. Albeit a comedy at heart, this show touches on themes of race and how racism is so deeply rooted in our society that it can slip right under our noses. This show also asks the rhetorical question "Why do theatrical institutions (in academia or otherwise) only reach out to artists of color as a last resort?"