Nicolet Middle School, Banning Unified School District
Friday, April 18th 9:00 - 11:30 and 12:45 -2:15

Banning, CA-Students at Nicolet Middle School, in collaboration with the Riverside County District Attorney's Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) program and the Riverside Arts Council, will present scenes from the new Broadway Musical "All Shook Up" on Friday April 18th. The Riverside Arts Council has provided a musical theatre workshop designed to give students training in acting, singing and dance. The performance will take place during a California State Testing (CST) motivational rally.

In January of 2005, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and the San Jacinto Police Department implemented the Riverside County District Attorney's Project Safe Neighborhood program based on recommendations from Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco. Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Gerry Lopez, Chairperson of PSN, coordinated resources and provided a focus on gang intervention to pilot the program. PSN calls for a multifaceted response involving county, city, school districts and community groups. The program focuses on prevention and intervention strategies such as parent, community and school staff education, service projects, mentoring, student extracurricular activities, and life skills classroom education.

According to Deputy District Attorney Gerry Lopez, "One of the most powerful and effective formulas to lead young people towards the path of success is to connect them with positive, inspiring adults, involve them in fun and rewarding activities, teach them to overcome their insecurities, and help them discover their talents and abilities. The Riverside Arts Council does masterful job of executing this formula. The Riverside County District Attorney's Office and participating school districts are very impressed with, and extremely grateful for the Riverside Arts Council's partnership with Project Safe Neighborhoods and their commitment towards helping at-risk youth."

Utilizing the California State Visual and Performing Arts Standards, the Riverside Arts Council fulfills the extracurricular activities component with its arts enrichment program. "Using the arts as an empowerment and skill-building tool, the project goal is to help at-risk youth to continue their education and gain respect for others and themselves," says Patrick Brien, the Riverside Arts Council's Executive Director. "In addition, the collaborative and communicative elements built into the specific disciplines selected for each unit offer the opportunity to teach workplace skills such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. The resulting sense of self-esteem will reduce the need to find a sense of belonging through gang activity."

Local actress and Riverside Arts Council artist-in-residence Sarah Bermudez has been working with the students at Nicolet, which is in the Banning Unified School District. She has a long list of professional performing credits to go along with her teaching experience. This summer, Bermudez will star as Cosette in the Southern California regional theatre premiere of "Les Miserables" at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista.

"The students are very grateful to have Sarah as the performing arts instructor" says Lana Magenheim, 7th Grade Counselor at Nicolet. "She is vivacious and has an outstanding rapport with the students. This has been a fantastic experience for our students and they have really enjoyed Sarah's enthusiasm and talents."

Over the past ten weeks, students have been learning and practicing the basics of music, dance and theatre. They will be performing a scene and two songs from the new Broadway Musical All Shook Up that is based on songs written by Elvis. Each component of the workshop helps to emphasize creative thinking, problem solving and self esteem.

"Most of these students have never performed in something like this," says Bermudez. "The prospect of having to dance, sing and act all at the same time is very scary to them. The experience helps not only strengthen their performing talent, but it also boosts their confidence. They've had to work together and listen to each other and use their creativity to come up with their own ideas as well."

In addition to the performance, Deputy District Attorney Gerry Lopez will be speaking about the importance of education, and the student band "Negative Generation" will perform original songs. Students of the PSN musical theatre workshop will present their scenes to parents, staff and the fellow students of Nicolet during the CST Assembly on April 18th. There will be two presentations from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. and 12:45 to 2:15 p.m.

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