Last Showcase of the Year
June 5, 2023
With graduation season approaching, Hope in the Dark hosted their last showcase for the school year in order to share positivity throughout the community on May 27, 2023.
The Hope in the Dark is a club at Brien McMahon that dedicates its time to hosting showcases or some may say talent shows in order to spread a message of positivity within the community. They use showcases as a way to collect donations for local organizations and help those in need.
Hope in the Dark was a club that was founded during the pandemic while everyone was doing remote learning.
“This club is basically four students who took their APUSH project to an extreme level,” said Annika.
Annika Amann, along with Allie Cameron, Emily Luppinaci, and Zoe Moyer founded this club and are currently seniors here in Brien McMahon. This started off with their teacher Mrs. Harris who is also their advisor giving them a project in A.P. US History during the pandemic to help spread joy in the community while they were in isolation.
They continue carrying this project throughout the community. Not only do they hold showcases at Stepping Stones but as well online. They have a Youtube channel dedicated to their showcases as well.
For this showcase, they gathered students with talents to perform in front of families in Stepping Stones. Throughout the showcase, they followed a theme which was ICONIC. I just have to say, the show was truly iconic.
In this show they started off with Isabella Cuartas singing the classic, “Just The Two Of Us” by Bill Withers. Isabella has been a long-time member of HTD and is currently a senior at CGS!
They also had two sophomores, Roshni Yousuf and Rose Pierre who sang “Space Between” from Descendants 2 and “Let it Go” from Frozen. Rose Pierre played the piano while Roshni and she were singing. They are both part of the HTD club and are part of various things in our community.
Rebecca Parra who is a sophomore at McMahon and runs a pop culture club here sang a fan favorite, “Thinkin’ About You,’ ‘ by Frank Ocean.
Besides singing they had various students play instruments such as Sabrina playing “This is Me,” from the Greatest Showman movie. They included “A-Bear-ican String Quartet which is a chamber group at Norwalk High, composed of Zach Go, Marcello Maturi, Summer Bosch, and Jack Sheehan.” says Emily Lupinacci
In this showcase, we saw appearances of the drama department here in McMahon! Nyelle Gogarty, Somaya, and Krasaydie who have participated in plays/musicals sung for HTD showcase.
Many of the performances that were given were very unique. We heard and saw a diverse group of music and talents! Even one of the founders, Allie performed sign language to the song “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman.
For the seniors’ last showcase, 3 out of the 4 founders: Annika, Emily, and Allie decided to sing together. They performed the song “You’re on Your Own Kid” by Taylor Swift.
To finish off their showcase, everyone came on stage and danced to the most iconic song, “Dancing Queen,” by ABBA. Everyone in the venue was invited to dance with them. Kids and parents were all dancing along with great smiles on their faces.
Making this whole showcase requires a lot of preparation and time. “It’s been months in the making, we started the process of preparing this show in February. We have to pack the script, reach out to people, gather things,” said Allie.
Sadly this is the last year that the founders of Hope in the Dark will be here at McMahon. They have been doing showcases for three years now and leave with creating a positive impact in our community. They have helped create smiles and positive energy for various families and people.
To continue with the legacy Raisa Yousef, Roshni Yousuf, Ava Ryen, Sabrina, and Georgia Gushue were named the new leaders for next year and will continue to create amazing showcases.