Encore: Spring 2024

A pair of Lawrentians performed at the regional choral directors’ convention in March.

Lawrenceville’s select choir, The Lawrentians, is known for its choral excellence, and this winter, two of its finest represented the School at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Eastern Regional convention in Providence, R.I.

Ryan Ding ’25 and Sonia Lackey ’26 were among just 150 accomplished singers selected for Regional Honors, chosen from over 1,200 selective auditions. They performed in the Eastern Regional High School Honor Choir, conducted by Felicia Barber of Yale University. ACDA is the nation’s largest professional organization for college and school vocal music. The Eastern Region competition covers 11 states, from Maine to Maryland, with some of the finest music programs in the country.

Robert Palmer, director of music at Lawrenceville, recognized both singers for their versatility – whether through their voices or other modes of performance.

“Sonia is focused in her work and reads extremely well, so she is always a ‘go-to’ singer for a special need,” he explained. “She has a deep background, as a pianist, composer, and singer.

“Of course, Ryan is most famous around campus for his speed on the ice,” Palmer continued, adding that Ding’s Big Red hockey schedule conflicted with orchestra, “so he started attending our Wednesday morning Lawrenceville Singers rehearsals. It was immediately clear his was an unusually mature bass voice for a high school student.”

Impulse is totally serious: You will laugh.

The schedule at Lawrenceville requires serious planning: classes, lunch, then co-curriculars, all before dinner and a few hours of homework. Wouldn’t it be nice to go off-script once in a while?

That’s exactly what the members of Impulse do. Lawrenceville’s only improv comedy troupe is just the antidote to the pressure points of student life. Improv – or improvisational theatre – is by definition unscripted and spontaneous. It doesn’t have to be comedic, but the form easily lends itself to laughter, which is where this troupe is focused.

“The super-fun thing about Impulse is that it’s a skill and the skill is totally teachable,” says Maggie Hammond ’25, co-leader of the club, whose Impulse-branded sweatshirt carries the tagline “Making it up as we go.”

Impulse’s improv performances are unscripted, but the troupe’s lifeblood is still rehearsal time, when the players run through all the games or routines they might play in a show.

“We’ll give what we call stars and wishes,” explains co-leader Lauren Williams ’24, adding that “stars” mark some magical moment in a rehearsal when “something great happens,” and “wishes” are applied when a player hoped for something else to come out of a scene. The acted scenes may or may not evolve, but, to the members of Impulse, it’s almost beside the point.

“There’s no pressure at all,” says Impulse actor Becky Carey ’24. “It’s just such a fun thing to put yourself out there and try something new.”

Kristen Devine-Jones ’10 is a lyrical, contemporary, and jazz dance instructor in the Performing Arts Department, who choreographed two of the performances in this year’s Winter Dance Series.