VIS + STA = VISTA

Theater department of Visitation School and Saint Thomas Academy

Our theater program offers students from Visitation School and Saint Thomas Academy rich opportunities to collaborate while creating exciting and meaningful theatrical productions and story-telling. We encourage students to recognize, explore and develop their talents through the many disciplines of theater arts including acting, singing, dancing, and technical production.

Housed in the Visitation Fine Arts Center, the DeSales auditorium presents the perfect environment for VISTA’s impressive, award-winning productions.

VISTA Productions Upper School

VISTA Productions Upper School

VISTA Productions, the upper school theater program, produces three main stage productions a year: a fall play or musical, Full Circle which is a student created production in the winter and a spring musical. Students may participate in acting, singing, dancing, scenic crew, and technical theater. Full Circle is based on a new theme every year and offers numerous creative and leadership opportunities which may include script writing, directing and choreographing. In addition, we also produce the VISTA Variety Show which is a two night celebration of the outstanding talents of Vis and STA students and faculty.

VISTA Productions 2024-25

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

November 15, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 24, 2024

By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

Synopsis

It’s December 22, 1815. Mrs. Elizabeth “Lizzy” Darcy (née Bennet) and her husband, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, are preparing to host a family Christmas gathering. At the beginning of the play, Lizzy and Darcy are happily married and living at their Pemberley Estate. Eldest sister Jane is still married to her beau from Pride and Prejudice, Charles Bingley, and they are more in love than ever and expecting their first child. Lydia, the youngest, was the most sociable and flirtatious of the Bennet sisters. She defied social norms and ran off with a militia officer named George Wickham, leaving Mr. Darcy no choice but to bribe Wickham into marrying Lydia to save her reputation, effectively deflating the romance of it all. Now, Lydia exerts much energy convincing her sisters that her marriage is a happy one. Kitty, the second youngest sister, is unable to attend the Christmas festivities and does not appear in the play. And then there’s Mary Bennet. Smart but solitary Mary Bennet. The observant but overlooked middle child. The girl everyone sees as boring, spinster-ish, even cynical ... and perhaps she is. Or was. Because this Christmas, Mary is coming into her own as a woman, and fate is lying in wait to stoke the fires of her heart. Will an unexpected guest give Mary the ultimate gift of love?

Cast of Characters
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Elizabeth “Lizzy” Bennet (Darcy)
Jane Bennet (Bingley
Charles Bingley
Lydia Bennet (Wickham)
Mary Bennet
Anne de Bourgh
Arthur de Bourgh

To purchase tickets, click here!

Full Circle 2025 - Make Our Garden Grow

January 24, 25 and 26, 2025

An original work created by students and directors

“Don't sow your desires in someone else's garden; just cultivate your own as best you can; don't long to be other than what you are, but desire to be thoroughly what you are.” Saint Francis DeSales

Each year VISTA Productions produces an original piece during the winter season. Traditionally under the umbrella of FULL CIRCLE, which was our first endeavor of this sort 26 years ago, the performance typically includes acting, dance, poetry and music. Students from both Visitation and Saint Thomas are encouraged to participate by submitting short scripts, choreographing, directing, performing, acting, singing, dancing, stage managing and working on crew. A title or theme provides the framework for the piece. Working side-by-side with other students and supported by VISTA Directors, the students have the opportunity to act as creative leaders through the process of FULL Circle.

This year’s theme “Make Our Garden Grow” will use the Act II finale of “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, (based on the Voltaire novella of the same name) and the quote from Saint Francis De Sales to inspire us. This soaring musical masterpiece and wise words from Saint Francis will provide the through line for our Full Circle project this year. The Full Circle creative process will begin shortly after Thanksgiving, however students who have an interest in submitting written works or choreographic themes are encouraged to speak to Wendy Short-Hays at any point during our first semester.

Tuck Everlasting - The Musical

May 2, 3, 4, 9. 10 and 11, 2025

Book by Claudia Shear Music by Chris Miller Lyrics by Nathan Tysen
Based on the novel by Natalie Babbitt

Synopsis

Tuck Everlasting tells the story of young Winnie Foster, a girl longing for adventure and escape from her stifling life. Winnie’s world changes forever when she discovers a magical spring and meets the immortal Tuck family, who drank from it a century ago. As Winnie befriends the Tucks, she learns their extraordinary secret – they can never age or die. Tuck Everlasting explores themes of life, death, and the beauty of the fleeting moments that are sprinkled in between.

Featuring a wide range of amazing roles and a soaring score, Tuck Everlasting promises to offer a rehearsal process that offers challenge and fun to the VISTA company and a production that will delight our audiences of all ages.

Auditions will most likely be held in December with rehearsals beginning in February.

In This Section

VISTA Productions

VIS + STA = VISTA

VISTA Productions Upper School

VISTA Productions 2024-25

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Full Circle 2025 - Make Our Garden Grow

Full Circle 2025 - Make Our Garden Grow

Tuck Everlasting - The Musical

VISTA Theater

Elliott Hays

Wendy ShortHays

Keelia Wood